Untitled Arrow Fanfiction
by erin.durack
Summary: They were the three amigos, it was them against the world, until it wasn't. Somewhere along the lines Aubrey had fallen in love with one of her best friends, Oliver Queen. This is the story of Aubrey & Oliver, discovering their feelings for one another, and all the secrets that lie between them since Oliver's miraculous return!
1. Chapter 1

**I obviously do not own Arrow, or any of its associated characters. Aubrey and the Martin family are all mine. I hope everybody likes this story and that its not too familiar to anything someone else has written. I usually just get an idea in my head and I have to write it down. This was one of those moments, and this story was what came out of it. It's still a work in progress, so I hope the consistency is there from chapter to chapter. It will primarily be done from Aubrey or Oliver's POV, perhaps with the occassional POV from the other characters involved. Not necessarily following the flow of the show either but definitely going to utilize some of the show.**

 ****Searching for title suggestions and story feedback! No negativity or bashing please! Only productive or positive criticism is welcome.****

You all are such an awesome community of writers and I love reading your stories and seeing the ideas come to life!

 **Aubrey POV**

I'm not exactly sure when it happened exactly, my entire world turning upside down again that is, but I can wager that it all came down to three little worlds. "Oliver is alive". Just when life had settled down, and I had semi-accepted or began to accept life without Oliver in it, and then this. Then his mother Moira Queen, a woman I had come to know and love as a mother myself, calls and tells me that Oliver Queen is alive, and that he is at Starling City General. That was not a call I was expecting ever, let alone while I was on a third date with friend of a friend of Moira's.

He was a nice guy and I did enjoy his company, but once I answered that phone call and Moira uttered those words I was out the door. I quickly muttered some sort of excuse, as Moira asked me not to share this news with anyone yet, and then I grabbed my keys and jumped right in the car. She had told me to go back to the house to be with Thea, but I couldn't. I had to see him for myself. I needed to see his face, to feel his arms hugging me. I needed to know that my best friend was really back. It had been five long years, and a lot had changed since Oliver left with...Sara. Even saying her name was difficult for me to do. It wasn't that I disliked Sara, or her sister Laurel. It was just that they were not my favourite people. They were nice enough girls, Sara more trouble than Laurel, that's for sure, but they had one thing I always coveted. Oliver's heart. He had fallen for both of them, and I always told him that he was playing with fire by seeing both of them, but Oliver was reckless. A good man, but a reckless one. And now he was home.

I realized during my haze of memories, that I was most definitely speeding, something that would surely earn me a huge fine, but I didn't care. Once I finally pulled into the hospital parking garage, I quickly threw my car in park and then began the run up the parking stairs to the main lobby. Once in the beautifully designed hospital lobby I practically sprinted to the welcome desk and nearly ran into it when I finally arrived.

"I need to know what room Oliver Queen is in please?" I asked as politely and calmly that I could.

"I'm sorry mam, there is no one by that na…."She began to say, but my fist slamming down onto the desk stopped her.

"I'm family, I need to know what room Oliver Queen is in, I'm trying to ask as nicely as I can right now, but I will find out one way or another." I whisper yelled.

"Room 809 miss." She whispered back at me.

"Thank you." I said before running for the elevators. I knew I wasn't going to be able to climb eight flights of stairs, so I had to attempt to be patient and wait for the elevator to arrive. When it did I practically dove in and pressed the button for the eighth floor. The ride up to the eighth floor was one filled with centring breaths, and long sighs. I was so nervous, but once I heard the bell signalling that I had reached my destination, I took one last deep breath and basically jumped out of the elevator. I looked down each direction of the hallway and saw towards the end on the right hand side that there was a guard standing out front. That had to be the room he was in, and sure enough there was a sign listing which room numbers were down that hallway that confirmed it. My steps were slow and timid at first, but with each step my patience waned. I had to see him. The guard took notice of the surety of my steps and began to approach me with his hands up, cautioning me to stop. I vaguely heard him say something about no visitors and I knew that this wasn't going to be simple. I was about 10 steps away from the door when he grabbed me, in an attempt to keep me from getting any closer. I did my best to fight my way out of his arms and when that failed I rammed my elbow into his nose, and my knee into his crotch. He dropped with a thud, and I could hear Moira's voice asking what the hell was going on out here from within the room. The door had been left open, and when I stepped into the doorway Moira was the first to see me as she turned to scold whoever had entered.

"We asked not to be disturb...Aubrey? I thought I told you to wait at the house with Thea?" Moira said as her voice softened. I didn't exactly acknowledge what she said. All I could do was stare at the emotions that were dancing across his face. He looked different, and yet the same. Definitely broader, or stronger than he had before he left. But it was still him. Just the sight of him took my breath away, even more than it already did. So much so that all I do so was whisper.

"Ollie." I said barely audible, but somehow he heard me. He said nothing, just gave me that Queen smirk that I know, love and missed so much. It didn't take long after that for my feet to move all on their own. Taking me step by step closer to him. He must have read my mind because as I approached he stepped away from his mother and opened his arms to envelop me in a warm embrace. I gladly accepted the embrace, jumping up off the ground and into this arms. My face buried in the crook of his neck. Breathing in deep the scent that was so uniquely Oliver. "I'm so happy you are home. Don't you ever do that to us again!" I cried. "I missed you Ollie, so much."

"Missed you to bug." He whispered into my hair. Taking in a breath almost as if to smell my hair like I had done to him. "I'm not going anywhere, you're stuck with me now."

"Good. I'd happily be stuck with you." I said with a slight laugh as he gently set my feet back on the ground. I took a moment to place a hand on each of his cheeks. Just taking in every feature in his face, almost as if I could have forgotten it. I stood there not saying anything for a few seconds before the sound of someone clearing their throat pulled us out of our trance.

"Um sorry to intrude Mr. Queen, Mrs. Queen, but I have to escort the young lady out of the building right now." A young man in a security uniform said with a shaky breath.

"Oh It's okay young man this girl is part of the family." Moira said as Oliver pulled me to him.

"That's all fine and dandy Mrs. Queen, but she broke the nose of one of my guys, so for today I am going to have to ask her to leave the building." An older man dressed in the same uniform stated as he stepped into the room.

"Bri" Oliver said with a laugh.

"Unfortunately I am guilty as charged. He was trying to keep me out of the room Ollie. After five years of not seeing my best friend I wasn't about to wait a second longer." I said with a laugh. "But don't worry gentlemen I will go gently. I will see you guys back at the house. Thea is probably going out of her mind with worry." I said before leaning up and placing a soft kiss on Oliver's cheek. "I really did miss you Ollie. See you back at the house."

"Missed you too bug. Thanks for coming. I don't think I could've waited a second longer to see you either." Oliver said before placing a soft kiss on my forehead.

I smiled and cooperatively made my way out of the hospital with the two guards close behind me. I apologized again for causing harm to one of the guards, and signed a small donation over to the hospital in order to ensure that nothing got out about it. I guess that was the benefit of being the sole heir to a multi-billion dollar company. A blessing a curse I suppose. Once back in the parking garage I noticed that I had a text from Mark, the gentleman I had been on the date with that evening, he said that he hoped everything was okay and that he hoped we would meet up again with a winky face. I felt bad for the guy. He was sweet, and I would probably have dinner with him again, but Oliver being home just had me emotions on overload and I wasn't sure what that meant for my future. All I knew is that I was ecstatic that Oliver was home, and I wanted to spend as much time with my best friend as I possibly could, and that was exactly what I intend to do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Oliver POV**

It had been five long years since I had seen the city that sat below me. There had been times that I thought I wasn't going to make it back at all, but then I would think of what my father had told me. Survive he said before ending his own life to save mine. He had also told me that he was not the man that I thought he was, and that I had to come home to right his wrongs. I would keep my promise, and take back the city from the crooks that have it within their grasp. It was my mission, and that mission felt like something I wasn't going to be able to do as Oliver Queen. No I would have to be more than Oliver Queen, more than just a man. I knew as soon as I got out of here I would have to being to work on a plan, find a place to work from and start building this person that I would have to become to defeat the evils that lurked around Starling City. The time away and on the island had definitely prepared me physically for this task I was to undertake, but I would have to ensure that the people I care about, the people I love and fought to get back to, would be safe. I stood there staring out the window, formulating my plans and reliving everything I had been through, so I hadn't noticed my mother enter the room.

"Oliver." She whispered before approaching and wrapping her arms tightly around me. I had missed my mother and sister immensely, so this felt good to see her again and allow her some peace in knowing she had not lost her son after all. "Honey, I can't believe it's actually you. You're really here."

"I'm here mom." I said kissing her cheek. "I'm home."

"Are you alright? Were you hurt?" My mother cried as she leaned back to take a look at me.

"I'm fine Mom. No major injuries to report. I just want to get home, and get to Queen Consolidated. To get back to some kind of normal." I said with a sigh before returning to look out the window.

"One day at a time Oliver. Let's work on getting you settled at home. I know Aubrey and Thea are probably chomping at the bit to see you." Mom said with a smile.

"Aubrey?" Oliver asked.

"Yes honey, she's been such a rock for Thea and I over the last five years. She moved into the manor about a year after you had been gone. A few months after her father passed from liver cancer. That house was just too big for her to be in all by herself." Mom said as she took a seat on the bed.

"How is she mom?" I asked turning to look at her.

"She always held it together for us, but I could tell she was hurting. You are a big part of her world honey. It was hard for her to figure out how to move on without her best friend. Her and Tommy lost a part of the three amigos after all." Mom said with a slight smile. I offered a smirk as well, remembering how the three of us were practically inseparable when we were kids. "You kids have always had this bond, I always envied that."

"When can we get home then. I really need to see her." I said with a sigh. Aubrey was my best friend, and the more time I spent away, the more I came to realize that she was so much more than that. Sure I had been feeling conflicted about my feelings towards her ever since her 18th birthday, that's why I just continued to throw myself into Laurel, and then Sarah. I didn't know how to be the guy that Aubrey deserved, so I always just played it off like she was just my sister. Every time Laurel asked or raised concern over how close I was with Aubrey, I would just brush her off and tell her it was nothing. However, I knew better and it was the hope that maybe someday I could tell her how I truly felt that kept me fighting to get back. In moments of weakness when I felt like giving up I would see her face and it would remind me that I had to get back to her.

"You will honey. She was out I think on a date, I called her on my way here and asked her to go stay with Thea until we got home." My mom said which interrupted me from my thoughts.

"A date?" I asked trying not to sound too jealous.

"Yes a third one I think, with Mark Masterson, you remember him don't you from some of the parties I threw with his mother." Mom continued to talk about how great mark was and I could feel the jealous building up with every word. She finally stopped talking about him when we both heard some sort of commotion from the hallway. I could hear the guard telling someone they couldn't come in and then a thump, sounding almost as if someone had fallen to the ground. I instinctively began to clench my fists, standing almost at the read to pounce on whatever was trying to fight its way into the room. And then I instantly relaxed when I saw who was standing at the doorway to my hospital room. Mom heard her as well but had her back to the doorway, so she turned to scold whoever had entered before realizing who it was. "I asked that we not be distrurb….Aubrey? I thought I told you to go wait with Thea back at the house?"

"Ollie?" Aubrey whispered before running over to me. I knew exactly what she was going to do so I quickly stepped away from my mothers path and opened my arms ready to catch her. I quickly buried my face in her dark curls, taking in a deep breath and reveling in her scent. It smelt like strawberries and fresh vanilla, and was absolutely intoxicating. She seemed to be doing the same, as I could feel the fresh tears and her warm break on my neck. She let out an almost contented sounding sigh and wound her arms tightly around me before speaking again. "I'm so happy you are home. Don't you ever do that to us again!" She cried. "I missed you Ollie, so much."

"I missed you too bug." I said as I smiled into her hair once again, using her nickname that I had always called her ever since we were kids always made me smile. It was something we shared, that was just for us. I remembered once Tommy had tried to call her that and she had given him a huge bruise on his arm from a punch. She was always so tough, and yet so loving and kind and generous, I never felt I deserved her as a friend, but she was always there no matter what. I should have guessed that me coming back from the dead would be no different. I pulled back slightly so I could look into her eyes before speaking again. She had tears still welled up, and I could tell she was trying to keep them in check, but failing miserably. "I'm not going anywhere, you're stuck with me now."

"Good. I'd happily be stuck with you." She said with a slight laugh as I gently set her feet back on the ground. I felt her hands move from the back of my neck, to each side of my face. It seemed as if she was taking in my face and almost memorizing my features. I was sure that I had changed a bit since being gone, I know I certainly felt that I looked older, more worn almost. I began to do the same to her. Taking in how she had changed over the five years too. She was still as beautiful as ever, soft pale skin, dark curls cascading around her face, bright blue eyes staring up at me. She didn't look as though she had aged a day, but somehow she had changed from the college student he had left, to a woman of the world. She seemed refined, elegant and more confident than I had remembered her ever being. It made me smile, she is everything that I imagined her becoming while I was away. I could have stayed there staring into her eyes forever, but the sound of someone clearing their throat from the doorway brought us both out of our trance

"Um sorry to intrude Mr. Queen, Mrs. Queen, but I have to escort the young lady out of the building right now." A young man in a security uniform said with a shaky breath.

"Oh It's okay young man this girl is part of the family." My mother said to the young security guard. I instinctively pulled Aubrey back towards my body, her head coming to rest on my chest.

"That's all fine and dandy Mrs. Queen, but she broke the nose of one of my guys, so for today I am going to have to ask her to leave the building." An older man dressed in the same uniform stated as he stepped into the room.

"Bri" I said with a laugh. I always knew she was tough, but damn I didn't think she was that tough.

"Unfortunately I am guilty as charged. He was trying to keep me out of the room Ollie. After five years of not seeing my best friend I wasn't about to wait a second longer." She said with a laugh. "But don't worry gentlemen I will go gently. I will see you guys back at the house. Thea is probably going out of her mind with worry." she added before leaning up and placing a soft kiss on my cheek. "I really did miss you Ollie. See you back at the house."

"Missed you too bug. Thanks for coming. I don't think I could've waited a second longer to see you either." I replied before placing a soft kiss on her forehead. I watched her walk out of the room, with the guards trailing behind her, now even more anxious to get home then before. I could feel my mother's eyes on me and sure enough when I turned to look at her she was staring at me with a smirk. I could see the wheels turning in her mind and the smoke coming out of her ears. "What are you smiling about mom?"

"Oh nothing dear. Just happy that you are home. Who knows maybe you're father had it right all along." She said very aloof. It confused me, what could she be talking about.

"What do you mean? What did dad have right all along?" I asked trying to search her eyes for some kind of indication as to what she was talking about.

"Oh nothing to worry about sweetheart. Come on let's get you home." She said before beginning to help me grab the few things I had with me. Once I was all check out there was a car waiting for us and we hopped in and began the drive back to Queen manor. I couldn't help but grow sad at the sites before me. We drove somewhat past the glades on our drive back to the house, and it saddened me to see the state of this part of town. My mother made some kind of comment about the less unfortunate and charity, but I didn't really register it. I simply took in all the darkness around me. Then suddenly my eyes came upon my dad's old Steel factory and an idea popped into my head. I decided not to put too much thought into it for now. Right now I wanted to focus on seeing Thea, and spending more time to Aubrey. I had missed so much, and I knew I needed to focus on seeing all the people I missed, and eventually that would include seeing Laurel, who I anticipated to be quite unhappy to see me return. Not only because I survived and her sister did not return, but because of the fact that I had been dating her, and sleeping with her sister behind her back. It was going to be an interesting few months as I tried to regain some of the Oliver I used to know, but I was willing to try.


	3. Chapter 3

**Aubrey POV**

I sped home just about as quickly as I had to the hospital, parked the car and ran inside to find Thea. Sure enough when I entered the house and made my way up the stairs I found Thea in her room. She was sitting on her window ledge with her headphones in staring out onto the back of the property. I gently placed a hand on her shoulders to get her attention.

"Jesus Aubrey! You scared the crap out of me." Thea shouted out as she jumped up from where she stood and quickly removed her ear buds.

"Well Speedy that's what happens when you deafen yourself with music.." I said with a laugh as I dropped myself down onto her bed.

"So...is it true Bri? Is he really alive?" Thea asked suddenly remembering why I was home so early from my date.

"It's true Thea." I said sort of starting to cry all over again. "I saw him with my own eyes. He's really alive Speedy. He came back to us."

"Thank god." She said before coming over and enveloping me into a hug. "How did he seem?"

"He seemed different, but the same." I said with a sigh. "I know that doesn't make much sense, but it's the only explanation I've got. They'll be home soon kid."

"I guess that's all we can ask for right?" Thea said before knocking my shoulder. "So you going to tell my big brother you're madly in love with him or what?"

"THEA!" I shouted practically knocking her off the bed. "I am not...okay I am, but now is definitely not the right time to lay that on him. He has a lot of adjusting to do. Let's give him time to do that first okay."

"You know what happens when you wait it out Bri." She said with a questioning look. All I did was raise my eyebrow at her and smirk. She rolled her eyes at me before speaking again. "Fine, keep your emotions to yourself, but I am serious Aubrey. Do not wait too long, because knowing you, you will find a way or reason not to tell him if you do."

"I will do my best to not do that this time Thea." I said with a weak but genuine smile. "I already lost him once. I can't lose him again."

At that moment Thea heard the front door open and I could barely get a word out before she was out of the room and down the hall headed for the grand staircase. I decided to stay back and give them some time alone. I was suddenly feeling nervous at the idea of seeing Oliver again. I decided that I needed a few moments to myself so I headed out to the one spot that Thea and I would go to for the last five years to find peace...Oliver and Roberts graves. I must not have realized that it was so late, or I guess in this case early, because before I knew it the sun was coming up. So I decided I better head into the manor. Turns out I wasn't the only person out late, because I saw Oliver sneaking back into the manor as well. I decided to let it go for now, but I would have to remember to keep an eye on him. Afterall, Starling City isn't the same safe place it used to be and he needed to watch out.

I allowed myself to sleep for a couple hours before greeting the day. When I headed downstairs in a nightie and robe to grab coffee, I was not the least bit surprised to see a huge feast laid out and Rasia working on cooking one of Oliver's favourite meals for dinner.

"Morning Rasia." I said with a stretch. "Looks like Ollie really got the welcome wagon greeting this morning."

"He has not gotten up yet actually Miss Martin. Would you mind maybe going to get him, Mr. Tommy called and said he would be coming to see Oliver today." She asked. "Oh and here maybe take him his coffee as well. He always was a hard one to drag out of bed."

"Sure Rasia." I said with a laugh. I took the cup from her and headed up towards Olivers bedroom. I didn't bother knocking since I assumed he was still sleeping so I just opened the door and headed on in. To my shock Oliver was very much awake and was stepping out of the bathroom in a tower, which caused me to nearly drop one of the cups I had in my hand.

"Bri...shit sorry." He said as he darted over to try and help me balance the cups.

"It's okay. Just didn't expect you to be awake." I said as I collected myself, which was short lived as I realized that he was still in a towel. "He Rasia wanted me to bring you some coffee. She also has quite the spread going on down there for you."

"Rasia always was like a mother to me. Where did you go last night? Came up to look for you but you were not here." He asked in a blank tone.

"Just needed some air. It was kind of a whirlwind night last night." I said with a sigh. He stepped back out of the walk-in and seemed to be taking in my appearance. I thought for a moment I saw him lick his lips, but quickly shook the idea away. "Oh shit. Sorry forgot what I was wearing. I'm going to go get dressed. Do you mind if I tag along with you and Tommy today on the Starling City reunion tour?" I asked with a laugh.

"Yeah sure, wouldn't be a reunion if the three amigos aren't back together." He said with a smile. I left the room and had to take a moment to get my composure before heading off to get dressed. I had just hopped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my body and began to towel dry my long brown hair with my back to the doorway when I heard the door open.

"I'll be down in a few minutes Rasia." I said without looking at who had entered the room. She usually reply with an alright miss, or something so when she didn't I suddenly got worried that there was some kind of intruder. I quickly turned around, nearly losing my towel in the process and was shocked when I saw Oliver standing there. "Oliver..shit sorry. I will be down in a few minutes."

"Oh yea sorry. Tommy's here I will just go wait downstairs with him." He replied as if I had just pulled him out of some kind of daze.

I got dressed quickly, and did my best to do something with my mop of brown hair. I decided that mascara and lip gloss would be sufficient today, and then grabbed my phone, jacket and then headed downstairs. I had thrown on a pair of light wash, distressed jeans, a white T-shirt and some sneakers. Deciding that casual was probably best when it came to hanging with those knuckle heads. I headed down the main staircase and Tommy smiled up and said hello, and then Oliver turned to see me and it was the strangest thing. Almost as if I had taken his breath away or something. He genuinely smiled up at me and stared for a moment before suggesting we hit the road. I sat in the limo facing Oliver and Tommy, and noticed while Tommy talked about all that Oliver had missed while he was away Oliver simply stared out the window. Taking in the sites around him, and the decay that had become the city. It seemed as if his face dropped or contorted in anger at each new site.

"What's going on in that head of yours Ollie?" I asked as I felt it might be impolite to continue staring at him.

"Just taking in all that has changed. Seems like the city has really come under fire almost." He said sadly.

"Unfortunately not all of the elite in Starling share our position of charity or what actually will help the city." I said moving closer to the window.

"Well maybe we can change that Bri, that's something I really want to work on. Changing the city and its perception of me." Oliver said with a smile.

"That sounds like a really nice idea Ollie." I said with a soft smile. I hoped we really could make a difference in this city. It needed it. If our future children, or childrens children had any hope of living in this city, we had to make it better for them. "So Tommy, does this tour you have planned include caffeine? Because I am in desperate need of some."

"Yes, we are going to have a pit stop for coffee and then walking tour around the city." Tommy said with a smile. We pulled up to a coffee shop that we had all frequented before Oliver had gone missing everything seemed to be the same according to Oliver, which was a nice change from everything else that had changed. Unfortunately, in addition to getting our caffeine fix we ran into none other than Laurel Lance. I could feel Oliver tense and when she brushed past him angrily he ran after her. I rolled my eyes, figures nothing had changed. In that moment I decided to erase any moment, or idea I had since Oliver came home about us every being together. He was still in love with Laurel and probably always would be. I decided to walk over and suggest that perhaps he give her some space.

"Laurel, I'm sorry. I will keep saying it and prove to you how sorry I am." Oliver said, once again causing me to roll my eyes.

"Ollie, maybe you should give her some space. There's a lot of history here and it's not going anywhere." I said as I placed my hand on his arm gently. Oliver turn to look at me and I could see the sadness in his eyes. He still cared about her, and the fact that she was not easily forgiving him was really breaking his heart.

"Aubrey, I see some things never change...nevermind I don't need to reminice about the past. I have to get to work." Laurel said before practically running away.

"Well that went well." I said with a sad smirk. "You okay?" I asked Oliver as I placed a hand on each of his arms and stood in front of him.

"I just need her to know how sorry I am. For everything." He said sadly looking ahead to where Laurel had walked away.

"You still love her don't you?" I asked him. He moved his eyes to mine. It was almost as if he was reading them before answering. I decided not to bother letting him say it. Even if he denied it, we all knew it was Laurel and Oliver forever. "Don't worry, she will come around eventually. Then it will be Laurel and Oliver against the world all over again." I said with a laugh, trying to hide the sarcasm.

"Bri.." Oliver began but I interrupted him.

"Well boys let's get this tour on the road." I said with a smile as I rounded the corner off to see the rest of the city. "Oh shit." I said to myself as a man grabbed me and covered my mouth with a gloved hand.

"Mister Queen, welcome back to Starling City. Pretty brave of you to be out and about without any protection, don't you know that times have changed?" The man said to Oliver as he and Tommy rounded the corner shortly after me. "Come with us or I'll blow her pretty little head off." I tried to struggle for a moment not wanting my friends to give themselves over to this creep. He smelt like bad colgne, liquor and cigarettes and the scent was making my stomach turn.

"Let her go!" Oliver said in a dark and menacing tone, as he took a step toward us. "I'll give you whatever you want! Just let her go, you don't need her."

The rest of the crew seemed to appear at that moment and grabbed Oliver and Tommy, who both began to try and fight them. They were knocked out and then the three of us were bound and thrown into a van. The guys came to just as we pulled into what I can only assume is some sort of abandoned warehouse.

"Are you okay?" Oliver asked as he began to shake the haze from being unconscious.

"I'm as good as someone being kidnapped can be I suppose." I said sarcastically. "How about you?"

"I'll be fine." Oliver said before really looking at me. "I'm going to get you out of here Bri."

"I know." I said very matter of factly. "What do they want? You just got back, how could you have possibly pissed someone off so quickly? This has to be a record even for you."

"Leave it to you to crack a joke in a hostile situation. Not sure what they want. I assume money. Don't worry we are going to get out of this." Oliver said with a laugh.

"Get the girl." I heard one of the thugs say. Then the doors to the van opened up and one of the guys grabbed me and yanked me out of the van.

"Let go of her! Leave her alone." I could hear Oliver yelling from the van. The thugs began pulling him and Tommy out too. Tommy was still out cold, and Oliver was trying to fight to get free.

"Ah I don't think I will be doing that Mr. Queen...and let's remember I ask the questions. You provide the answers." The leader said as he pulled me up to him, placing a blade up to my throat. "So let's begin shall we...You're father, did he make it off the gambit? Did he survive?" Oliver didn't answer just stared at him, so he pulled the blade a little tighter to my skin, just slightly breaking it. "Mr. Queen I would hate for your little friend here to lose her pretty little head."

"No he didn't make it." Oliver said angrily, still staring at me.

"Did he tell you anything? What did he say to you while you were on the boat?" The man asked.

"Yea he did." Oliver said looking down for a moment.

"What did he say? What did he tell you?" The man asked, as he once again pulled the blade closer to my skin. I could feel some blood begin to trickle down my neck. I was genuinely scared that this was not going to end well.

"He said I'm going to kill you all." Oliver said as he looked back up into the eyes of my captor. Something in Oliver's eyes told me that it was the truth. Then I noticed that he was able to move his arms a bit more, something the idiots holding us hostage didn't seem to catch on to. He gave me a wink, I guess as a signal to try and brace myself.

"You must be mistaken, because you are tied up and I'm holding the weapon." The man said.

"Not exactly." I said as I had managed to pull the gun out of the guys side holster and shot his leg, causing him to let me fall to the ground. Seeing as my legs and arms were still sort of bound I couldn't get my balance and collided with the side of a desk. It didn't quite knock me out because I could hear Oliver yell my name. Then I could vaguely see Oliver kicking an entire crew of masked mens asses. It took him maybe 10 minutes to beat the crew up, but one decided to make a break for it. So Oliver chased after him. I was able to locate the blade that had previously been stuck in my throat and managed to cut myself loose. I quickly rushed over to Tommy, who was finally coming to, and cut him loose. "Tommy it's okay. I'm here." Oliver came running back in and picked me up and pulled me into a hug.

"Are you okay?" He asked before putting me down and checking my neck. " That doesn't look too bad, maybe a stitch or two."

"Oliver, we have to talk about this." I said as I tried to look into his eyes. He avoided mine, clearly not interested in talking about it.

"We will okay, eventually." Oliver said with a sigh. "Look a guy in a green hood came and saved us okay?"

"Okay. Fine, but we will talk about this." I said as I forced him to look at me. He scanned my face, and then his eyes fell to my neck again, and I could see so much guilt in his eyes.

The officers came and took our statements back at the Queen manor, with Moira and Walter by our sides. Moira was quick to defend all three of us, especially Oliver. Detective Lance was really pressing us to get some other kind of story, I assume one that would allow him to arrest Oliver. He never really liked Oliver, and that like became hate the moment he lost Sara on the Gambit. Moira was clearly agitated by the insinuation that Oliver had anything to do with these men abducting the three of them, and so was I. I decided I was done with the interrogation and I stood up to speak. I was usually a very respectful young woman, and detective Lance was not a bad man, he was actually a really big asset to this city, at when he wasn't drinking. But I just could not sit her and listen to him verbally beat Oliver up anymore, he had more than paid the price for what went on with Sara, and it was not his fault that he came back and she did not.

"Stop!" I said as I stood and looked down at Detective Lance. "Enough, Oliver had nothing to do with why those goons took us, none of us did. They were a bunch of idiots attempting to con a couple rich kids families into paying for their release." I continued with a sigh. "This is all about Sara and it's enough! It is not Oliver's fault she got on that boat and it is certainly not his fault that she did not come back. I am still so very sorry for your loss Detective Lance, I knew Sara well and you need to stop punishing Oliver for the decisions she made. It's not his fault that both your daughters fell in love with him. Now are we done here?"

"Yes Miss Martin, please be sure to contact me if any of you have anything to add to your story." Detective Lance said before standing up and walking out of the manor with a huff.

"Aubrey! Wow I didn't know you had that in you." Tommy said with a laugh.

"It had to be said. I'm going to lie down, it's been quite a tiring day." I said with a sigh before heading up to my room. Once in the comfort of my room I decided that sleep wasn't going to come easily so I sat down on the window seat and gazed out onto the property. I saw Oliver and Thea walking out through the gardens, and then eventually over to his and Roberts headstones. It was weird that his had not yet been removed. I eventually seemed to fall asleep, and it wasn't until I felt strong arms wrapping around my body, that I realized I had fallen asleep on the window seat.

"It's okay Bri, I've got you." I heard Oliver whisper as he laid me down on the bed. I didn't feel like really talking or doing much of anything so I figured it was best to just stay as I was and try and sleep away the memory of today's events. I would make Oliver tell me what all the ninja and green hood business was eventually, but I was just too tired to have the conversation today.


	4. Chapter 4

**Oliver POV**

Well that was not the homecoming I had planned. I've pissed off Laurel, pissed off her dad and now it seemed like Aubrey was mad at me too. Granted that probably had something to do with me demanding that she lie to the police, but it was all for a bigger purpose and I would have to let her in on that purpose if I ever hoped for her to forgive me. I decided it would probably be best to give her some space, but she had been up there for a while and it wasn't even quite five o'clock yet. I headed up to her room and checked on her, just to make sure everything was alright. When I came to her bedroom door it was slightly ajar and I could see that she had dozed off sitting on the window seat. Knowing from experience how uncomfortable sleeping sitting up can be I decided it was probably a good idea to move her to the bed before I headed out to get my hideout ready. I felt her sort of stir once I had secured her in my arms, so I took the opportunity to place a soft kiss on her forehead and whispered " It's okay Bri, I've got you.". She was so beautiful when she slept, hell she was beautiful every second of everyday. Even more so than I had remembered while on the island. Remembering her, and thinking of her, along with Thea, was really what kept me going. Those two kept me fighting to get back, even when the odds were stacked against me. After a few moments of staring down at Aubrey's sleeping form, I began to feel that I was bordering on creepy. So I took that as my cue to leave. I had a lot of work to do to get this mission up and running, but if I learned anything from my time away, it was that I was capable of so much more than I ever imagined.

I had spent the night at the foundry, setting up computers for surveillance and recon, and unpacking some of the items that I had managed to get my hands on in terms of weapons. It was a small operation to be sure, but one that I was determined to use to make this city safer. I had been so wrapped up in the task at hand that I had not even noticed what time it was. The ringing of my phone pulled me out of my focus. I looked and saw that it was Tommy. I had really missed him too, but it felt like he was hiding something from me, I wasn't sure what it could be, but I guess being the guy that I am I would eventually find out.

"Hey Tommy, What's up?" I said with a smile into the phone.

"A party! I am throwing you a welcome home party that will put to shame all other parties we have ever thrown my friend. I mean my best friend has come back from the dead...I cannot think of a better reason to throw a rager." Tommy said enthusiastically.

"Tommy, isn't that kind of in poor taste?" I said knowing I had already got a bit of information on a shooter taking out what seemed to be investors in this major bidding war coming up, one my mothers new husband and close family friend Walter seemed to be working on as well.

"Man, since when does Oliver Queen turn down a chance to get wild and let's not forget laid?" Tommy said. Realizing he was right, the old Oliver wouldn't have even hesitated at the chance to attend a party, let alone be the guest of honour. And I had to at least attempt to keep up appearances if I wanted to keep my identity separate from the hood.

"You know what, you're right! I came back from the dead, that's definitely a reason to party." I said with a laugh. "Make sure you tell Bri about it too!" I added, trying to ensure I got to spend more time with her.

"Already texted her the details. See you at 9 my friend." Tommy said before hanging up. I glanced at the clock on my phone before putting it back in my pocket. It read 12:30, wow it was noon already, how long had I been down here? I guess I was a little more focused than I had thought. I figured I better head back to the manor, and at least make the appearance that I was not hiding out it my room. I had just entered the house when my mom, who was sitting in the front room, called my name.

"Oliver honey, can you come here for a moment?" She said with a sigh.

"Sure Mom, what's up?" I asked as I slipped my hands into my pockets and walked into the room.

"Are you doing okay?" She asked me as her hand came up to place a hand on my cheek. "I just want to make sure you are adjusting to being back."

"I'm doing okay mom. I'll be just fine I promise. Just need some time to figure out where my place is now." I said with a sad smile.

"Oh honey, you're place is with this family, and at the head of QC just like you and your father always talked about." My mom said as she led me over to the couch. "Once we get this business with the court taken care of we will work on transferring the company from Walter's leadership to you."

"One thing at a time mom." I said with a smirk.

"How are you and Aubrey doing?" She asked with a glimmer of some kind of plan in her eyes.

"Mom, we're just friends. Besides you said she had a boyfriend or whatever." I said reminding her that Aubrey had been on a date the night I came home.

"That doesn't change the fact that you love her honey. You always have. Even throughout all the Laurel and Sara drama that you brought into your life Aubrey has been the only woman to stick around." My mom said with a smile.

"I just don't think she feels that way mom, and it's really not the right time. I have to figure out how to be Oliver Queen again before I could even begin to think of being with someone right now." I said with a sigh. "And she deserves better than me mom."

"Oh my beautiful boy, you don't see how she looks at you do you? You are a handsome, smart, loving man and she would be so lucky to be with you." My mom said before placing a kiss to my cheek.

"You're sort of obligated to say that being my mother and all." I said with a smile. "I love you mom. Thank you."

"Honey you never have to thank me." She said before patting my knee and standing up to head out of the room. Before she left the room she turned back to look at me. "Honey make sure you don't get too wild tonight at Tommy's party, I'd hate to give the press any more juice on the Queen family for right now."

"I'll behave I promise." I said before heading up to my own room to get ready. I threw on a dark grey fitted suit, white button up shirt and headed out to see if Aubrey was ready to head out yet. I hadn't spoken to her yet today, but I had assumed that we would be heading over together. "Bri? You ready to head out?" I hadn't heard a response and once again the door was slightly ajar. I quietly opened the door and could see her from the reflection in the walk in closet mirror. I don't think she could tell I could see her but without looking up she responded.

"I'll be out in a second Ollie." She yelled as she reached up to pull a dress down. When she did I saw the muscles in her back contract and then she turned to the side to slip the dress on. It appeared to be a sliver dress, but I couldn't really tell you much more about it, because it was her body that had pulled my focus. Through the mirror I couold see she was wearing white lace panties, that hugged every curve of her behind perfectly. And I could also see that she was wearing a corset style bra that dipped low in the back. I tried my best to regain my composure when I saw her pull the dress up and head out of the closet. "You look very handsome."

"Thanks, you look stunning. That's quite a dress." I said taking a big gulp to try and bring my thoughts back from the very R rated place they were travelling to.

"Thanks, can you zip me up?" She asked as she turned her back to me and pulled her long hair out of the way. I froze for a moment, just staring at her soft porcelain skin. She really had no idea that kind of effect she had on men did she? "Earth to Oliver? Can you zip me up so we can head out?"

"Yeah, sure." I said once again swallowing all the very ungentlemanly thoughts going through my mind. I let my one hand sit on her hip, while the other did up the very short zipper that caused the dress to cover up the bustier that she was wearing, and then allowed my fingers to graze up her back to fasten the button that sat at the top to secure her straps. As I did I felt her shiver in response. Perhaps my mother had been right, maybe Aubrey did feel something for me. I guess I would just have to give it time to find out.

"Thanks." She whispered as she turned back to face me. When she had turned her body she must have taken a step forward because she was a lot closer to me then she had just been. She looked up to me slowly, our eyes meeting and for a brief moment it looked as though she was about to lean up and kiss me. I allowed myself to believe that was what was going to happen so I too leaned towards her lips, but Rasia's voice at the doorway interrupted us.

"So sorry Mr. Oliver, Miss Aubrey, but Mr Masterson is here to see you." Rasia said with a soft smile.

"Thank you Rasia, can you tell him I will be down in a moment?" Aubrey said as she rushed over to grab her clutch and put on her heels. "Sorry, I hope it's okay that I invited Mark. I sort of ran out on him the other night."

"Yeah that is fine. Of course you could bring whoever you want." I said trying to brush off the hurt. Hoping she hadn't seen it in my eyes. "I guess we should get going, can't have a party without the guest of honour now can we."

"No we cannot." She said looking up at me once more. "Okay ready?"

"As I'll ever be." I said with a smile, as I placed a hand on her bare back and led her out of the room.

"Mark, sorry to keep you waiting. You remember Oliver don't you?" Aubrey said as she walked up and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Yes, Oliver it was so great to hear of your miraculous return. We were all so sad to hear about the Gambit going down five years ago." Mark said as he extended his hand for me to shake.

"Thanks man. Great to be back." I replied happily taking his hand. "Great to see you again, shall we head out? I'd hate to keep you two from your date night." I said sarcastically.

"Shall we all ride together?" Aubrey suggested turning to look at me for approval.

"Sure." I said my voice clearly showing I was not thrilled by the idea.

The car ride was incredibly awkward as we all sat in silence, each looking out our respective windows. So when we pulled up to the club I practically jumped out of the limo and headed inside without waiting for Mark and Aubrey. I couldn't sit there and watch them together. Him helping her out of the car and be there with her like I want to be. So I just headed inside and found Tommy.

"Hey man, finally. Where have you been?" Tommy asked.

"In the most awkward car ride of my life." I said signally to the doorway where Aubrey and Mark were now entering the club.

"Well I have just the thing to make that better, and the way I see it...tonight it is my duty to get you laid and to turn that frown upside down." Tommy said handing me a shot of tequila. "Why don't you stand up and say a few words?" I rolled my eyes at him and stepped up on to the stage and took my shot.

"Well I missed tequila!" I yelled before hopping off and looking down at my watch. It was getting close to "hood time", so I headed out to the stairwell that I had hidden my suit. I felt someone's eyes on me as I made my way through the crowd but I decided not to turn back to see who it was. I didn't sense them following me so I wasn't concerned about being caught. I quickly grabbed my suit and headed for the roof. I had bigger things to deal with now, so my issues with Aubrey and Mark would have to wait. The city needed the hood tonight and Oliver Queen's love life or lack thereof could wait.


	5. Chapter 5

Aubrey POV

I couldn't believe how awkward that car ride had been. I mean complete silence, you could hear a pin drop. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised considering it seemed like Oliver and I had just had an almost kiss moment prior to Rasia interrupting us. Ever since Oliver came back it's been like getting whiplash. He's hot, then he's cold. He's close and then he's distant. I could not figure him out like I once could, or perhaps it was just my own selfish hopes that were preventing me from really reading him. I did my best to shake the awkwardness away as Mark and I entered the club. I immediately rolled my eyes as I saw Oliver climb up onstage and down a shot of tequila. That was incredibly like old Oliver. I could see Tommy laughing it up, but Oliver seemed to look down at his watch and held a very serious expression as he stepped off the stage. It looked as though he had somewhere to be. I decided to keep an eye on him, but let him do his thing. I did after all bring a date tonight, so I had better keep him entertained at the very least.

"Thanks for coming tonight." I practically yelled into Mark's ear to be heard over the incredibly loud music.

"Happy to be here, you look amazing by the way." Mark said as he ran a hand over my bare back.

"Thank you, you look pretty handsome yourself." I said with a wink. "We don't have to stay too long, but I had to at least make an appearance."

"No problem at all. I actually asked an associate of mine to meet me here for a quick meeting. I hope that is okay?" Mark asked me with a smile.

"Of course, that's perfectly fine. Just let me know when you need to meet with him and I will make myself scarce." I said with a smile and placed a kiss on his cheek. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Oliver began to make his way for the stairwell, followed closely by his bodyguard, Mr. John Diggle. Lucky for me it was at that moment that Mark's business associate arrived and I was able to sneak away and follow them. When I followed the path they seemed to take, it led me up to the roof. Mr. Diggle was up there and I noticed a rope that seemed to be strung across the gap between the club and the building next door.

"Mr. Diggle, what the hell is going on?" I asked concerned as I did not see Oliver anywhere, but it did seem that his suit was lying tucked into a duffle bag by the door.

"Miss Martin, I think it's best if you head back downstairs." Diggle said, his voice laced with concern. Moments later we heard gunshots ring out and a few bullets making their way across the buildings. John was quick to action knocking me to the ground and protecting me from any shots.

"Where the hell is Oliver John?" I asked ready to scream.

"He went over to the other building across that rope." John said with a sigh. "I'm going to back him up. I am not sure what he is up to, but it's my job to protect him."

"John be careful." I said before he turned back to look at me.

"You might want to stay here. Whatever it is that Oliver is up to, he clearly doesn't want anyone else to know, so we best make sure nobody catches on." John said before he hopped off the roof and rode the rope across to the other building, smashing another window as he entered.

They had been gone for at least twenty minutes before I say two figures begin to roll back on another rope. They both fell to the roof with a thud, which caused me to jump up on high alert. I saw Mr. Diggle, and it appeared that he had been hit by one of the bullets. The figure beside him, stood in a green leather hooded ensemble, with a bow in one hand and a quiver full of arrows in the other. And it took me only a second to remember the story that Oliver had convinced me to tell Detective Lance, the hood. He was the hood, and Oliver was up to something. I decided to try and not worry about that for the moment, because clearly John Diggle needed assistance more than I needed to be let in on the plans of my recently resurrected best friend.

"John , oh my god! What happened to him Ollie?" I gasped as I ran over to them.

"Aubrey! What the hell are you doing up here?" He yelled at me. "You could have been hurt!"

"So could you! And clearly John did get hurt, so how about we worry about the details of what went on here a bit later and worry about getting John fixed up. He needs a hospital Oliver." I scolded.

"No hospitals, let's get him to my dad's old steel factory." Oliver said looking into my eyes to show me he was very serious.

"Fine! But right now you need to get back down to your party, Detective Lance will undoubtedly show up here and accuse you of causing whatever went on over there." I said with a sigh as I attempted to hold Diggle's weight. "Go and get rid of the cops and I will meet you at the car. Go! I'll be fine."

"Aubrey...what are you.." I didn't let him finish. I just yelled at him to go again.

"Okay John, Don't take this the wrong way, but you are hella heavy." I said trying to lighten the mood. John Offered a slight laugh. "Now how the hell am I going to get you off this roof?"

"Service elevator." Diggle whispered.

"Good call! Okay let's do this." I said as I did my best to drag John over the the stairwell and then down to the service elevator. It was a quick ride and sure enough it led us straight to where Oliver had a car parked. I threw John in the backseat and move to the driver's seat. After what felt like an eternity Oliver finally appear and jumped into the back seat to continue to put pressure on John's wound. I drove like a bat out of hell to the steel factory and helped Oliver get John in the basement. "Holy Shit Oliver, what is all this?"

"Not the time. Keep pressure on the wound. I have to get some herbs, or John is going to die." Oliver said as he hurried over to a wooden chest.

"Isn't it just a flesh wound, I thought it didn't seem that life threatening." I asked suddenly very concerned.

"It was just a flesh wound, but the bullet was laced with a poisen called curare. It's extremely deadly, and if I don't get this into John soon he is going to die." Oliver said in response.

"Work away then." I said as I looked to what he was doing. I then looked back down at John. "It's going to be okay John, we've got you."

"Hold his head up Bri." Oliver said as he brought a cup of water and ground herbs over for John to drink. Oliver held the cup to John's lips and waited until the cup was empty. "There. He should be fine now. I'll wait here until he wakes up. You can take the car and go home."

"Are you serious right now?" I asked completely confused. Did he really expect me to just go home without any explanation as to what the hell had just happened? "I think you must have me mistaken for some other bimbo you can just bark orders at Oliver. I am not going anywhere."

"Aubrey, You shouldn't be here." Oliver said with a sigh.

"Well whether or not I should be here, I am, so you mister have a lot of explaining to do." I said as I crossed my arms over my chest, unintentionally making my cleavage push up further.

"Aubrey...it's a long story." He replied. Clearly he was trying to avoid having this conversation, but I was not having it.

"Well lucky for you we have time. So start talking." I said as I moved to stand in front of him. "I am your best friend Oliver. Talk to me please." I whispered as I stared into his eyes, and placed a hand on each of his arms.

"Let me just change first." He said going to a corner of the room and throwing on jeans and a t-shirt. I had to suppress the moan that escaped my lips as I saw him remove his shirt, I caught a quick glimpse of the scars that littered his body, but couldn't get a good look at them. He was so strong, even more so than before he had gone away, and I imagined that whatever he was about to tell me had something to do with this strength, both physical and mental.

"So let's start with what exactly is all this?" I said, motioning to our current surroundings.

"This is all part of my plans to make this city safe again. To right my dad's wrongs." He said with so much conviction and passion, that it instantly made me love him even more.

"What do you mean right your dad's wrongs Oliver? Your dad was a good man, what did he do wrong?" I asked clearly confused. I sat down in the chair that sat in front of all the computers he had laid out.

"When the Gambit went down, Dad, a crew member and I made it out." He said stopping to look at me. "We floated for days on the life raft, and Dad kept telling me that he wasn't the man I thought he was. Finally Dad shot the crew member, told me that he had not built up this city, but failed it. He told me to right his wrongs, to survive this and then…" Oliver stopped, it looked like whatever he was about to say was painful for him to relive.

"And then what Oliver? What happened?" I asked as I stood up and took his face in my hands. Forcing his eyes to move from the floor to meet mine.

"And then the put the gun to his head and shot himself." Oliver said sadly.

"Oh Ollie." I said before pulling him into a tight hug. For a moment he didn't respond, but then I felt him bury his face in my hair, and wrap his arms tightly around my waist. "I'm so sorry Ollie."

"What are you sorry for?" Oliver asked as he pulled back to look at me.

"I'm just sorry you had to got through any of this." I said sadly. "Can't a girl be sad her best friend had to go through a literal shitstorm?" I asked with a slight smile.

"I'm really lucky to have you Bri." Oliver said with a smile and a kiss to my forehead. Oliver pulled back and looked as if he was about to kiss her again, but a groan from John Diggle pulled them out of their moment.

"John are you feeling okay?" I asked as I rushed over to him.

"I've had worse. Where the hell are we?" John asked suddenly aware that he had no idea where he was or who he was with. He looked over and saw Oliver sitting leaning against a table with several computer screens on it. "What the hell man? Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

"No Dig, I am trying to make this city better. Something I had planned to do on my own, and without anybody knowing who I was." Oliver said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I brought you here didn't I? I could have left you there Diggle, but I didn't"

"I wouldn't have let him leave you there Diggle." I said with a smile. "Looks like the bleeding is all under control and we can probably stitch that up now. Oliver gave you some herbs to counteract the poison that the bullet had been laced with."

"Who the hell was that guy anyways?" Diggle asked.

"He apparently goes by Deathshot." Oliver said every matter-a-factly.

"What? I know that name… that's who." Diggle began to say but trailed off.

"That's who what Diggle?" Oliver asked with some force to his tone of voice.

"That's who killed my brother." Dig said looking up at Oliver. "Let me help you man. You're mother already has me basically tailing your ass, so let me be useful."

"Fine. You can help, but we do this my way. Got it?" Oliver said with the same power and force in his town that he had asked his previous question.

"Fine." both John and I said in unison.

"Oh no, you are not getting involved in this Aubrey." Oliver said coming to stand in front of me.

"And what makes you think you have a say. I already know about it, so I am involved whether you like it or not Ollie." I replied as I firmed up my stance, trying.

"Aubrey, I am not letting you get wrapped up in this, you will be put in danger and I could not live with that." Oliver said sadly.

"I'll be just fine, I'm not asking to go out and kick some criminal ass with you, but let me help. In any way that I can. Don't shut me out of this Ollie." I begged, as I looked up into his eyes.

"Fine, I'll probably need lots of help maintaining the whole Oliver Queen image anyways. Maybe some tech help down here." Oliver said with a blank expression.

"Thank you." I said before leaning up to place a soft kiss on his cheek, but hitting the corner of his mouth instead.

"I need to be getting home." Diggle said as he began to get up from the table. "I can stitch this up when I get back to my place. Thank you both for saving my life."

"We should get back to the manor before somebody things we were abducted again." Oliver said taking my hand and pulling me out the door.

Much like the drive to his welcome home party, this car ride was also very silent. I looked out the window as we drove back to Queen manor. I guess somewhere along the ride the exhaustion from the evening hit me and I passed out. Next thing I knew Oliver was carrying me up to my bed. He laid me down and placed the blankets over me before heading to his own room. It had been a couple hours I suppose that I had been sleeping when I heard Oliver crying out from his room. Worried that the Deadshot guy had somehow followed us home I ran into his room to check on him. When I entered the room I didn't see anyone there, just Oliver in bed thrashing back and forth almost as if he was having a nightmare.

"Oliver." I whispered as I gently placed a hand on his chest. Before I knew what was happening Oliver had me pinned down onto the bed with his hands around my throat. "Oliver stop." I yelled. He didn't stop. "OLIVER ITS ME, IT'S BRI!" I yelled again as I tried to snap him out of whatever dream world he was still in. That seemed to work, because seconds later the grip on my neck was gone and the regret was washing over Oliver's face.

"Aubrey...oh my god...I'm so sorry. I didn't mean it." Oliver said as he began to pace.

"Ollie, it was all a dream okay. You are safe now." I said as I slowly stood up and walked towards him. I took his hand in mine and led him back to the bed. "Come on lay down."

"I should get you something for your neck." He said still avoiding my eyes.

"I'll be fine. Come on lay down and get some sleep. I will be here when you wake up." I said as I sat down on the bed waiting for him to join me. He reluctantly settled into the spot beside me and I laid my head down on his chest. I listened as his heartbeat began to slow back down to a more regular rhythm. I began to draw circles across his chest, something I had done many times before. Infact sleeping like this was nothing new for us. We had done it tons of times when we were in high school and even as recently as before he had left on the gambit. We were best friends, and there wasn't much we hadn't done with each other...well at least when it came to most things. He ran his fingers through my hair and hummed whatever song popped into my head, as I remained lying with my head on his chest. He seemed to relax and it was not long before sleep overtook us both.

When I woke up the next morning, we were still laid out in the exact same position as we had fallen asleep in. I carefully sat myself up and looked down at the man sleeping next to me. He looked so peaceful, something I hadn't seen on his face since his return. It was nice, almost a glimpse at the old Oliver. The one who didn't seem to have a care in the world. This new Oliver seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and after what I witnessed and learned last night I suppose I can understand why. I had apparently been in a world of my own because I hadn't even noticed that Oliver had woken up.

"Stop thinking so hard. I can smell the smoke coming out your ears." He said without opening his eyes, and pulling me back down to lay next to him. This time he turned on his side and wrapped his arms around my waist to spoon me.

"Um Oliver.." I said as I felt a very noticeable part of him digging into my butt.

"Sorry...you know morning and all." He said with a laugh as he released me from his arms.

"Yea morning." I said sadly almost wishing that it had just been because of me. I plastered a smile on my face and stretched out before getting up to leave the room.

"Where you going?" Oliver asked surprised that I was leaving.

"Well clearly you have a situation to take care of, and I was going to shower and get ready for court this morning." I said with a sigh. "You are legally being brought back to life after all."

"Right court, I had forgotten about that." Oliver said with a sad smile. "I guess I will see you in a few then."

"You okay?" I asked as I noticed his demeanor change a bit.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just trying to figure out how to live a normal life I guess." Oliver said with a slight laugh. "Not everyday people get brought back from the dead now is it?"

"Well I can't imagine anyone's definition of normal consists of being a billionare by day and a vigilante by night...well except maybe Batman, but you...we will figure it out." I said as I walked up to him. "And I'll be here every step of the way." I wrapped my arms around his neck and felt him press his face into my hair.

"I don't know how I would get through any of this without you Bri." Oliver said into my hair as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in closer. "Thank you."

"What is it your mom always said, you never have to thank me, I do it because I love you." I said with a smile as we pulled apart. He was staring at me again and I began to get incredibly nervous as his eyes scanned mine. "Well I better get ready, don't want to be late for today. I think Tommy is meeting us at the courthouse."

"Right yeah, I'll see you down there." he said as I practically ran out of the room and dove right into my own bed to muffle the sounds of my screams of frustration.

I had to just rip the bandaid off, I had to tell him and soon or I was going to lose my nerve. I love him, have since forever and I needed to woman up and tell him, before this vigilante thing gets him killed or I just lose him to someone else. I threw on a cute peplum dress and a trench, paired it with some sensible black pumps and threw some curls into my hair and headed downstairs. I was concerned we were going to be late when I saw only Oliver waiting downstairs by the door.

"Where is everybody?" I asked as I pulled my hair out of the back of my trench coat.

"They headed out already, mom thought it would be less pressure for me to ride with just you." Oliver said with a smile.

"Well we do all know that I am the easiest going of the bunch." I said with a smile. "You sure you're okay Ollie?"

"I will be." he said before offering me his arm.

"My my, such a gentleman." I said taking his offered arm with a smile. "Let's go bring you legally back from the dead."

"Yes let's." Oliver said as he cleared his throat. He very gracefully helped me into the limo and smiled as I tripped over my own feet. "Why on earth do you wear such high shoes if you do not know how to walk in them." He asked with a laugh once we were safe and sound inside the limousine.

"Hey, when you're the shrimp in the three amigos you have to wear stilts to be able to keep your power." I said swatting his shoulder. "Besides most days I do know how to walk in them. You laying all this chivalry on me is very distracting."

"What Mark's not a gentleman then?" Oliver asked sounding slightly jealous.

"No he's a gentleman. I guess just not like..anyways let's not talk about him today. Today is about my best friend." I said desperate to change the subject.

"And you're best friend is so happy to be back home with you Bri." Oliver said. "But I don't expect you to put your life on hold because of me Aubrey. You should call him, go out again. I feel bad you cut your date short when I got back."

"Ollie.." I said realizing he was talking me into going out with another man. "Why are you pushing this?"

"Because you deserve to be happy Aubrey." Oliver said, but before I could add anything we had pulled up to the courthouse. "Come on..let's get this over with."

I thought I had experienced it all, but sitting in that courtroom listening to Oliver talk about what happened on the Gambit and then of course what happened on the island was agony. He of course only provided certain details. The fact that I knew about him as the hood, allowed my mind to wander to what other horrible things he had to endure. I mean I may have only vaguely seen the scars on his body, but they were very prominent. He had literally been through hell, on an island that is basically called purgatory, however did this man come out of this experience so calm, collected and just whole. The judge obviously ruled him alive and well, and then Moira began insisting we get Oliver over to Queen Consolidated to tour his empire.

"Mom, that was a bit more exhausting than I expected can we maybe do that tomorrow?" Oliver asked.

"Oh of course dear. The company isn't going anywhere." Moira said with a smile.

"So you going to hide out in your cave or do you have time to have a movie marathon with your best friend?" I asked with a shy smile.

"Call Mark Aubrey, you should go hang out with him today." Oliver said with an annoyed expression. "I need to be alone right now." He added before heading to the car that John Diggle stood by. I gave John a confused look, to which he responded with an equally confused look. I was pissed now, but decided to take his lead. I would call Mark, and end it. I knew the moment Oliver came back that things with Mark would never go any further, I was and have always been in love with Oliver and that was not about to change anytime soon. I was rage dialing the phone staring at Oliver's car as it drove off, probably to the hood liar, where he could do hood things.

"Hey Mark, Let's get together tonight...yeah I think we need to talk." I said quickly and full of confidence. I vaguely heard something about come by my place in an hour, but I couldn't wait so I just headed right over to his condo. When I got up to the penthouse floor it appeared that Mark was in the middle of a meeting I quietly excused myself and headed to find the bathroom. Mark gave me a wave hello and mouthed 10 minutes before resuming his conversation. Once I had powdered my nose I began to wander around the condo, checking out the decorating styles of the rich and powerful Mark Masterson. I was in his study when he found me.

"Aubrey, Hi. So sorry to keep you waiting beautiful." He said as he came to kiss my cheek. "Shall I pour us a couple of drinks."

"Sure. I really can't stay long though." I said with a smile. "How did your meeting go?"

"Oh that, it was fine. Just some loose ends to be tied up." He replied with a smile as he handed me a scotch on the rocks. That's how my dad always drank it, and apparently it was an inherited taste. "Now what was it that you wanted to talk about exactly?"

"Mark, I think you are really great, and I have had so much fun with you the last few months, but I don't really think this is going to work out." I said in a semi run on statement.

"It's Queen isn't it?" Mark replied bitterly.

"No it's not him." I said with sad smile.

"You do realize you're delusional if you think anything is ever going to happen with him right." Mark said. His voice filled with anger and jealousy.

"Well glad you think I am so delusional. Perhaps your next great idea will be to have me committed." I said. My voice riddled with sarcasm. "Thanks for the drink asshole, all the best with your business ventures." I added as I stood to leave, instantly regretting the decision as I became incredibly dizzy and collided with the ground moments later. The last thing I thought about before the darkness took over, was I wished I had done this over the phone. When that thought came to me I quickly pressed redial on my phone. I couldn't remember if Oliver was for sure the last call I made, but I was really hoping that he was.

"I'm going to have fun with you Aubrey. You'll learn I am not a guy who takes the word no very well." Mark said as he stood over me. "And the bonus is the vigilante is not here to come to your rescue.


	6. Chapter 6

Oliver POV

I don't know why I was so angry or why I even told Aubrey to call Mark, but I was and I did. I guess telling my story, well what I could tell of my story, to a courtroom full of people had more of an effect on me then I would like to admit. I guess as I retold my story, I realized no matter how much I loved Aubrey, she deserved better than me. Better than the broken man with a plan for justice. She deserved a nice businessman to build a life with. So I will sit back, and I will watch her be happy with him. I will watch her have babies and always wish they were ours. It would probably nearly kill me, but I had to. If I had any hope of making this city great again I had to do it alone.

"Can I ask why you seemed to be arguing with Aubrey back outside the courthouse?" John asked as we entered the foundry.

"She doesn't deserve to be saddled with a guy like me." I replied. "She knows about all this now, and I can live with that, but what I cannot live with is if something happens to her because she is with me."

"Oliver, if you want to protect her, then don't push her away." Diggle said with a sigh.

"If I let myself love her like she deserves, like I really want to, then I know I will be doing this half assed." Oliver said. "If I am doing this half assed, then she is at risk."

"Oliver, she loves you. She knows about all this and I can see that love for you hasn't changed. Even if the two of you are too stubborn to tell each other how you feel." Diggle said as he stepped closer to me. "I may not have know either of you very well yet, but I can see what's between you two. You deserve to be happy man."

"I am hearing what you are saying, but I've made up my mind." I said very sternly. I felt a vibration in my pocket and pulled out my phone to see Aubrey was calling. I pressed accept and put the phone to my ear, preparing to be yelled at for bossing her around earlier. However, what I heard on the other end made my heart nearly stop. "Aubrey look I'm"

"I'm going to have fun with you Aubrey. You'll learn I am not a guy who takes the word no very well." I heard Mark's voice say over the phone. "And the bonus is the vigilante is not here to come to your rescue."

"Oliver what's wrong?" Diggle said as he read my face as I listened in on the call.

"You sick son of a bitch." I yelled into the phone. Which Mark must have heard somehow, because his next words were directed at me.

"Awww Oliver, so sweet of her to try and call you. Looks like she will be otherwise engaged for the next...well until I decide to let her go I guess. That is if I decide to let her go. Guess you don't get the girl this time Queen...I'll be sure to take my time exploring every inch of her." Mark said in a taunting tone.

"Don't you dare touch her!" I yelled in response.

"I guess you have noticed she blossomed into quite the beautiful woman over the last five years. Good luck Mr Queen, but where I am taking her even the hood can't find her." Mark said

"Dammit!" I yelled as I slammed the phone down onto one of the tables.

"What happened? Who has Aubrey?" Diggle asked concerned.

"Mark." I said as I stormed over to the computers.

"What Mark? As in the Mark I heard you telling her to call?" Diggle asked confused. "What the hell man?"

"Yeah, that Mark." I said as I ran my hands over my face. "I guess not everything is as it seems here in Starling City anymore. I need to trace that call. I have to find her."

"We will find her Oliver, but you need to calm down man." Diggle said trying to get me to hold back my rage.

"He's going to hurt her, I'll kill him. I will kill him if he even lays a finger on her." I said through gritted teeth.

"We will find her man. How are you going to trace him? You a hacker suddenly?" diggle asked.

"No but I think Aubrey knows someone who is. I overheard her and Thea talking about her friend Felicity who works IT at Queen Consolidated. I'll take the phone to her see what she can get." I said as I rushed out of the foundry and headed to QC to track down Felicity Smoak.

When I arrived in the IT department it was easier then I thought to track down Felicity. Seeing as she was the only girl in the entire department. She was a pretty girl, long blonde hair, bold lips and bold glasses. She appeared to be talking to herself as she chewed on her pen. I cleared my throat in the hopes that she would hear me and I wouldn't startle her, but she seemed to be in a world of her own.

"Excuse me, Miss Smoake?" I said a little louder then my throa clearing.

"Oh hi..oh you're Oliver Queen." She said as she stood up, and began to babble and trip over her words. " I'm sorry Hi, what can I do to you, I mean for you?"

"I was hoping you would be able to help me locate Aubrey Martin. I have it on very good authority that she has been taken." I said very seriously.

"Wait Aubrey? What? Is she okay?" Felicity began to look very distressed as she took the phone and sat back down at her computer.

"Miss Smoake.." I began.

"Felicity please, you make me sound so ancient with the Miss Smoake." She said with a kink in her brows as she began to type.

"Sorry Felicity, look I am going to do everything I can to make sure she is found, but it would really help me out if you could help me locate her before anything really terrible happens." I said as I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Okay." Felicity said with a sigh, and then continued typing away on her keyboard. Witihin minutes she was speaking again. "The last call was made from the penthouse condo at 4557 Main Ave in Starling City, owned by Mark Masterson..wait isn't that...oh god she was dating him."

"Felicity, calm down. Can you see where here phone is now?" I asked, my anticipating heightening.

"No, it looks like it has been disabled. Probably destroyed it before they moved. If he said that he was taking her somewhere it has to be a warehouse or other building owned by him or his father's company." She said before once again a flurry of typing began. "There are three warehouses by the docks owned and commissioned as delivery sites for chemicals. Wait that's weird their company has nothing to do with chemicals."

"Can you text me the address?" I said as I wrote down my cell number and ran out of the office. "I have to call a friend to help me get her back."

"Okay...just hurry please. That guy always gave me the creeps." I heard her yell.


	7. Chapter 7

**Aubrey POV**

I had no idea where I was once I had finally regained consciousness, but from my first blurry glance it seemed like a warehouse of some sort. I could hear the dripping of water somewhere in the background and felt my arms and legs bound on a very unfavourable smelling mattress. I tugged at the ropes hoping that they had not been fastened as tightly as they felt, but no such luck. I could hear men's voices chattering away somewhere off in the darkness, but nobody was in close enough range that my still recovering sight could pick up. In this moment I was really hoping that my call went through and that it had been Oliver that I had called. He would come find me, or at least I hoped he would. I couldn't believe that this is where I was right now, I thought I had at least found a normal guy in Mark. It had only taken me five years to finally date anyone, and it figures the guy I finally agree to date is not only a spoiled rich guy, but also some kind of psycho with a secret life. Do I see a pattern forming here? I guess there was some consolation with Oliver, that I had been in love with him before he had this dual vigilante persona. I was really kicking myself for not having listened to Felicity when we met him at the club. She had said he gave her the creeps, and to be careful. Who knew that going to break up with someone could turn into a kidnapping situation, I guess in today's day and age I really shouldn't be shocked by anything. I was still trying to regain all my senses after whatever Mark must have put in my drink, but I wasn't going to have the chance to do that completely, since is sounded like whoever was in this warehouse with me was finally going to come into the light.

"Well well, awake from your little nap I see." I heard Mark say as he came to crouch down beside the mattress. "Quite the situation you have yourself in Miss Martin, as you can see I really do not take kindly to being told no. So I'm going to have a little bit of fun with you and we'll see where it takes us."

"you're a sick son of a bitch Mark!" I yelled as I began to thrash against my restraints. "You will not get away with this!"

"Oh Aubrey, that's sweet that you think that, but look around you...I already have gotten away with it. By the time anyone even thinks you're missing they'll find your body washed up on the pier." Mark said with an evil glimmer in his eye. "So sad really. Then I'll convince the board at Martin Inc to go public, and I will then buy up the majority shares. Making me one step closer to owning this entire city!"

"I'll never happen. I won't just cooperate with all this." I said motioning to my bound arms and legs.

"Oh I would expect nothing less Aubrey, it wouldn't be very much fun if you didn't at least fight back a little. Why do you think I waited until you were concious before we begin our fun." Mark replied with a smirk. "I'm going to make sure you remember every second of our time together."

I tried to think of some kind of witty or fighting comeback, but the realization and fear of what was to come had just hit me all at once. I was no virgin, hadn't been since my 18th birthday, but I was also not someone who slept around. Mark and I had never gotten past a kiss, and the look in his eyes told me that was all about to change. The fear was so paralyzing, but I was not about to make this easy on him. I was frantically pulling the ropes in all directions hoping and praying I could break loose and attempt to protect myself and I did manage to get one arm free, but he was fast to pin me down. I managed to get one good swing in before he had my arm held down against the mattress. My fist collided with his jaw causing his lip to bleed. He didn't let that stop him though, he moved in to kneel between my legs and unfastened his belt. I heard him pull it out of his pant loops before he proceed to pull his arm back and swung back to bring the belt down on my skin. Hitting my chest, my stomach, arms and legs, every contact causing my clothing and even some skin to tear. I had somehow felt enough of my rope loosen to pull my knee up, but he must have realized what I was about to do because he instantly slammed my leg to the side. I screamed out in intense pain as it felt almost has if he had dislocated my hip. When he realized just how much of a fight I planned to put up, he seemed to decide that I needed to be tamed a bit, so he began swinging and landing punches on my ribs, my face and my already injured him. I was in pain everywhere, and yet I knew he was just beginning. I had felt his weight over me once again, and faintly heard the sound of a zipper being pulled down. Seconds later I felt a surge of pain rip through me and tears began to fall down my face. I turned away from him, not being able to look anywhere but an old wall. He pulled my face towards him to kiss me and I could taste the blood on his lips from where I had punched him.

The feeling of his lips on mine made my stomach curl, and I was sure I was going to vomit, but it never came. He slammed vigorously into me until he was satisfied and when he stood over me I could see a glimmer of pride in his eyes at how broken I now was. I felt the warmth of his seed within me, and the bruises that were already begining to form all over my body. In that moment, I would have been happy to die. To just lay there in silence and let the world go dark, but Mark wasn't quite through with his taunting just yet. He had to rub it in just a bit more.

"Oliver will never want you now. Nobody wants damaged goods." Mark added before spitting on me and going back to his associates. "In fact, why don't we call your precious Oliver and tell him all about what happened here." he added before getting in real close and snapping a picture of my now swollen face.

"No" I whimpered, but it was too late. He had already dialed my phone and sent off the picture as soon as he picked up.

"Aubrey..where are you? Are you okay?" I heard Oliver ask over the speakerphone.

"I'm going to go with no my friend. Take a look for yourself, open up that photo I just sent you." I heard Mark say into the phone. "She's such a beauty isn't she?"

"I will kill you." I heard Oliver yell into the phone. "I will find you and I am going to kill you for what you have done to her."

"Please, I did the world a favour, one less spoiled rich girl to try and put the rest of us in our place." Mark said. "She thinks she's too good for me, that you'll ever love her HA!"

"You will pay for this!" I heard Oliver yell before Mark hung up the phone.

"Looks like lover boy was a bit upset. Oh well, you'll be floating in the pier in no time." Mark said as he began to walk away. Before he could get very far I heard the whistle of an arrows throughout the warehouse, followed by a grunt and thud as all of Mark's goons seemed to be dropping like flies. I tried to smile, as I knew that meant Oliver had found me, but the pain was too much. I heard mark cry out in pain before yelling "What the hell?"

"Mark Masterson, you have failed this city." I heard the disguised voice yell. With that Oliver shot another arrow, and Mark seemed to drop to the ground with a thud and grunt. I heard what sounded like a zipline, and then feet coming in contact with the concrete.

Once he had got a few punches in at Mark I whimpered a barely audible stop. I saw him look up and in my direction, completely forgetting about Mark. Seconds later Oliver was running over to me, and began to untie the ropes as quickly, and gently as he could.

"Oh my god, Aubrey...I'm so sorry..I should have gotten here sooner. I never should have.." Oliver began.

"Stop...not..your..fault" I managed to choke out. "You're...here..now." I added

"Come on, let's get stand you up." Oliver said as he tried to help me stand, but as he did I learned that Mark had definitely dislocated my hip.

"AHHHHH" I cried out as I tried to put pressure on it. "Hip..can't ..walk."

"Okay...this may hurt, but I have to get you in my arms okay Bri?" Oliver said as he prepared to lift me into his arms. When he did I rested my head on his shoulder. "I've got you." he whispered before placing a kiss into my hair.

"I knew you'd find me." I said before everything went dark. I thought I had heard a faint I love you whispered into my hair as well before the darkness had really taken over, but I was sure I had imagined it.

I wished I had protested being taken to the hospital, but I knew that John and Oliver didn't have the equipment or skills to properly treat all my injuries. So Oliver would have to get me to a hospital. I hoped he at least changed before he took me in, wouldn't that be a sight to see. The hood carrying in a damsel in distress, I hated that title. I was far from a damsel, but I guess today I was definitely in distress. I guess I would worry about that when I woke up. Right now I just let the darkness consume me, as I knew I was safe and that Oliver would take care of me. I did my best to push away Mark's words about Oliver never being able to love me and me being damaged goods, to allow myself to dream that this was more than just keeping me safe. That this was all because he loved me, I guess we could cross that bridge once I was healed and could at least form proper sentences. For now I needed to focus on healing, and trying to erase the memory of this horrible night from my mind.


	8. Chapter 8

**Another update! Just sat down and the words started pouring out of me. I hope you enjoy! Still looking for some title help. I am so stumped on what to call this story so all ideas are welcome.**

 **Thanks for all you support and reviews so far. Last I checked this story was at almost 200 views that is so cool to me that people are reading something I have written. I apologize for any spelling or grammer errors, I am using a new program to write this and I just got fake nails on to boot. so I am finding I am hitting extra keys here and there or missing them haha.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Oliver POV**

I had ran to the foundry immediately after going to see Aubrey's friend Felicity, and had been so consumed by finding her, that I didn't even notice I was being followed. I ran right down to find Dig was already there waiting for me, and it wasn't until I saw him give me a strange look that I decided to turn around. When I did I was greeted by the eccentric blonde that I had just finished speaking with at Queen Consolidated.

"Hi" She said sheepishly. "So I imagine this is some sort of secret liar and I am really hoping this isn't one of those I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you situations."

"Felicity.." I said with a sigh.

"Sorry, I can't just sit back while one of my only friends in Starling City has been taken by some asshole." Felicity said as she took a step forward. Only then did she see the bows and arrows all out on display. "Oh my god...you're him…you're the hood."

"Felicity, I really can't get into all that right now." I said as I rubbed a hand across my face and turned to the computers I had set up. I punched in the addresses of the warehouses Felicity and I had discussed and pulled them all up on a map.

"Look, I don't care that you're the hood...I care about getting my friend back safe. So please let me help. I can be your eyes and ears from here."

"Fine, but after this we will have some talking to do." I said as I went to change while Felicity began to type away at the computer. When I returned to the screen it appeared she had pulled up some kind of thermal readings of all the warehouses.

"It looks like this is the only one that has people in it." Felicity said point to one warehouse that was about two blocks away from the Foundry. "This has to be where she is being held."

"What kind of security are we looking at?" I asked as I leaned over to look at the screen.

"It looks like each entrance is guarded by two goons. I'd say the roof looks to be your best shot at getting in there quickly and undetected." Felicity said pointing out the thermal ratings at each entrance. Just as I was about to ask something else I heard my phone ring and when I looked at the caller I.D it read Aubrey.

"Aubrey..where are you? Are you okay?" I said into the phone desperately hoping it was her voice I would hear on the other end.

"I'm going to go with no my friend. Take a look for yourself, open up that photo I just sent you." Mark replied with a sick laugh. "She's such a beauty isn't she?"

"I will kill you." I said into the phone as I opened up the picture of Aubrey's face black, blue and swelling up as we speak.. "I will find you and I am going to kill you for what you have done to her."

"Please, I did the world a favour, one less spoiled rich girl to try and put the rest of us in our place." Mark said. "She thinks she's too good for me, that you'll ever love her HA!"

"You will pay for this!" I yelled before Mark hung up the phone.

"Damn it!" I yelled as I slammed my fist down onto the table.

"I was able to trace the call. He's located in the loading docks of the warehouse." Felicity said, pulling me out of my rage.

"Let's go get her back Dig." I said as I placed an earpiece into my ear. "Felicity I am going to need to you on the comms, watch out for any extra hazards and I'll let you know when we've got her."

"Okay...Oliver" She said pulling my attention towards her. "Kill that son of a bitch."

"Gladly." I replied before walking out of the foundry. I hopped on my bike, with Dig following closely behind me in the van. We had to get close enough that we could get onto one of the nearby buildings and then get ourselves over to the roof of the warehouse Aubrey was being held in. Once we managed to rig something to get us onto the roof, I was able to find a sun window that happened to be close to where Aubrey was tied up. My breath caught in my throat as I watched him spit on a beaten and bloody Aubrey. It killed me to see her like this, so helpless. So far from the strong woman that I had always known and loved. I promised myself that I would not waste another second of time, and would tell her how I felt about her. For now I needed to focus on getting her out of here and to a hospital. Dig and I managed to get in the building and take out Mark's goons, which allowed us to get in through one of the top doors. I carefully made my way across the metal walkways, shooting arrows at anyone that got in my way. When I saw him begin to walk away from her I didn't hesitate. I shot one arrow right at his right calf, causing him to collapse onto the ground. The second shot went into this shoulder.

"Mark Masterson, you have failed this city." I yelled as I still held my bow pointed at him, ready to shoot another arrow at him. With that I shot another arrow, and Mark seemed to drop to the ground with a thud and grunt. I shot an arrow across to something a little closer to the ground and ziplined into the room.

Once I had thrown a few punches in at Mark I heard a faint whimper from Aubrey that sounded like stop. I looked up and her my direction, completely forget about Mark. I was running over to her in seconds, and doing my best to remove the bindings as quickly and as gently as I possibly could. As each rope fell down to the ground I saw the deep red markings from where the ropes had burned into her skin. She had done all she could to try and fight him off. I looked back as rage filled me once again, but Mark was gone. I sighed in frustration, but that would have to wait for another day. I turned back to Aubrey and finally let out all that I was holding in, trying my best not to let her see the tears I had in my eyes. I loved, no I love this woman and seeing her beaten and broken was beyond difficult for me.

"Oh my god, Aubrey...I'm so sorry..I should have gotten here sooner. I never should have.." I said as I helped her try and slowly sit up. She was not having it though. She shook her head as she spoke.

"Stop...not..your..fault" Aubrey managed to choke out. "You're...here..now."

"Come on, let's get stand you up." I said as I tried to help her move from a sitting position to a standing one, but as I did I heard her cry out in pain, something was very wrong.

"AHHHHH" She cried out as she tried to put pressure on her one leg. "Hip..can't ..walk."

"Okay...this may hurt, but I have to get you in my arms okay Bri?" I said as I prepared to lift her into my arms bridal style. When I did she rested her head on my shoulder. "I've got you." I whispered before placing a kiss into her hair.

"I knew you'd find me." She whispered before she seemed to pass out again, probably from the pain. I looked at the amazing woman in my arms, and while she had a great deal of healing to do, there was no doubt in my mind that this was the woman I loved more than life itself, and I am determined to make sure that she is happy. I will be here every step of the way for her recovery, I only hoped this entire experience didn't cause her to push me away. I did my best to shake those kinds of thoughts out of my mind. As I carried her out to the van I whispered "I love you Aubrey" into her hair and placed another gentle kiss to the top of her head. The entire drive to the hospital I said a silent prayer, asking god to let her be okay. Asking him to let her come back from this whole.

I sat in the back of the van holding Aubrey as we made our way to the Starling Emergency Room. I fortunately had a change of clothes in the van so I quickly changed out of my hood gear and into the suit that I had waiting there. Once changed I pulled her back close to me. Feeling her shivering stop whenever I held her close. Every so often I would place a soft kiss on her head and whisper that I love her and she would be okay. I am not sure who I was trying to convince, her or myself. We pulled up and I practically jumped out the doors once Dig had opened them and ran right into the emergency room with Aubrey still held in my arms. I laid her out on the closest gurney I could find and began yelling for help. Several nurses came rushing over and began asking a ton of questions.

"Mr Queen, we've got her from here. We've called the police and Detective Lance should be here shortly." The one nurse said as she stood in front of me. "I need to ask you about what happened to her Mr. Queen."

"She was taken. All I got was a text telling me I would find her at the Masterson warehouse and to come alone. My bodyguard was with me. She didn't say much about what happened, but said Mark Masterson did this. And I think he.." I couldn't even manage the words.

"You think he what Mr. Queen?" The nurse asked in an encouraging tone, trying to help coax the words out of me.

"I think he raped her." I said as I looked up to face her with tears in my eyes. "Please help her, she's ...I lov...please she has to be okay" I begged as all the emotions I had been holding back had finally come to surface.

"We are going to do everything we can to help her Mr. Queen, but I am going to need you to contact her family." The woman said.

"Her parents are dead, only child. No close relatives either. She's my fiance, my family is all she has." I lied, knowing the whole only family was allowed to be let in on what was going on was going to come out of the nurses mouth. It didn't feel wrong to say that she was my fiance, now I could honestly say I hoped that someday she would be, but we'd have to give that time.

"Okay Mr. Queen, well the doctor is in with her doing an assessment, from first glance he thinks she will require some surgery to fix her hip, and just to ensure none of the broken ribs have punctured anything." The nurses added before turning to the other files on the desk.

"Thank you." I said sadly. I knew this would be all over the news within the hour, so I figured I had better call mom and let her in on what was happening. Hospital staff was notoriously unreliable as far as keeping secrets went, and mom would be heartbroken to hear this over the morning news.

"Oliver...where are you? Do you know what time it is?" I heard my mothers sleep filled voice say.

"Mom, I'm at the hospital.." I began but she instantly jumped into panic mode.

"Oh my god, are you alright?" She started yelling into the phone.

"No Mom I am fine...It's Aubrey. Mom she was beaten up and raped." I said as fought to keep it together.

"Oh honey. I will be there shortly. Stay put and try to be positive okay." She said as I heard sheets rustle as if she was already getting out of bed. "Honey I love you. Aubrey is going to make it through this." She added.

"I love you mom." I said before hanging up.


	9. Chapter 9

**Aubrey POV**

Everything hurt. That's all I could think of as the darkness began to fade away. I had yet to open my eyes, but I could see light filtering into to the room. It didn't take long for everything that had happened tonight to come back to me and without opening my eyes I felt a tear fall down my sore cheek. I decided I couldn't avoid reality anymore and that I had better open my eyes. When I did I saw a sleeping Oliver sitting in the chair next to my bed, his fingers intertwined with mine. On the couch on the other side of the bed I saw Moira laid out asleep as well. This family meant so much to me. They had been here for me through everything and I was so lucky to have them here with me now. I was undoubtedly going to need all the support I could get. I began to try and pull myself up into a sitting position, but before I could imagine Oliver woke up.

"Hey..let me help you with that." He said with a yawn. "Here lean forward on me, and I'll push the button. Let me know when it's the right height."

"That's good." I said hoarsely.

"How are you feeling?" Oliver asked before kissing the back of my hand. Seeing him do that made my heart leap and a slight smile come across my face.

"Like I've had the crap kicked out of me." I said with a sigh. "Please tell me you didn't kill him."

"No I didn't, but I should have." Oliver said as his hands closing into fists.

"Oliver" I said placing one of my hands on his. "I don't want you killing anybody because of me."

"After what he d.." I heard him start, but he couldn't get the words out.

"Hey." I said forcing him to look back at me. "I'm here. You saved me."

"I should have been there earlier. I never should have told you to call that asshole I should have…" He was rambling on and I was just staring at him. Everything I was reading on his face was telling me that he was blaming himself. This was not his fault at all, and all I could think of in that moment was how much I love him, and that once again I almost missed the chance to tell him.

"Oliver.." I said trying to get him to stop talking. "I love you."

"What?" He asked looking at me with a slight smirk and a look of shock.

"I love you Oliver. I just realized today I could have died and once again you would never know how I feel." I said with a slight smile. "You don't have to say anything, I just needed you to know."

"Aubrey I.." He began with a smile, but the doctor walked in before he could finish pulling both our attention to the door and waking Moira up.

"Miss Martin, glad to see you are awake." The doctor said with a smile. "I'm Dr. Jacobson, I wanted to have a moment to go through your injuries and our treatment plan."

"I'll just call Walter and Thea and let them know you are awake dear." Moira said as she walked over and kissed my forehead. "So glad you are going to be okay honey."

"I'll just go wait out…" Oliver began but I wouldn't let go of his hand.

"Please don't go." I said to him with a pleading look. I looked up at the doctor before speaking. "He can stay."

"Okay, well you came in pretty beaten up. We stitched up any of your external injuries that seemed too deep to heal on their own. Your hip was not broken, and it was not quite dislocated. We have you in a wrap cast just to keep it in place and you should probably do some physiotherapy in a month or so to help ensure that nothing pops out of place later on."

"Okay when can I break out of here?" I said with a sigh.

"You will be with us a few days at least." The doctor said in apologetic tone. "Now, we did a rape kit, and the police will get the results as soon as we have them in. Mr. Queen did let us know who your attacker was, but unfortunately Mr. Matheson seems to be missing in action."

"Okay, anything else doctor?" I asked before Oliver gave my hand a reassuring squeeze.

"We did administer an STI and STD test, as well as Plan B birth control. We were not sure what your current birth control was, and wanted to ensure you did not have any unwanted pregnancies. We will monitor closely over the next month to see what happens." The doctor said with a sad smile. "I will come back and check on you tomorrow. If everything goes well tomorrow you should be able to go home early Thursday morning."

"Thank you Dr." I said before leaning my head back and letting a few tears fall.

"Hey...everything is going to be okay Bri." Oliver said squeezing my hand again.

"I thought healing was going to be the last I had to deal with this, now I have to worry that he knocked me up too." I said as more tears fell. Oliver stood up and sat on the edge of the bed facing me.

"Hey." he said making me look up at him. He smiled at me before he spoke."I love you too you know."

"Really?" I said as more tears threatened to escape. "Or are you just saying that because I look like rocky and you don't want me to feel bad?" I said sarcastically. He didn't speak, he only leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on my lips, and then on my nose.

"No Rocky, I really mean it." He said as he pulled back to look at me. I probably looked like a black and blue fountain as the tears fell freely. This time they were happy tears. We finally told each other how we felt, and now I had no idea what happens. He was laughing at me now. "Aubrey don't cry."

"Happy tears I promise." I said leaning my forehead on his. "So what happens now?" I asked with a smile, well as much of a smile as my bruised cheek would allow.

"Well..I don't know. I guess we go on a date." he said giving me a funny look.

"What?" I said with a smile. "Do I have something on my face?" I asked with a laugh.

"I love you." Oliver said before kissing me again, this time adding a bit more than or previous kiss.

"I love you." I said back. "That feels really good to say out loud." I said with a grin.

"Yeah it really does." Oliver said. "I'm happy I got to you before I lost you forever. That feeling that I'd never see you again, again was terrifying."

"Hey, I'm here. Right here with you. Alive and well because of you." I said trying to scoot closer to him. I could sense he was tensing up, remembering something painful, something other than what had just happened last night. "Oliver, this is more then what happened with Mark, what's on your mind?"

"Do you know what got me through when I was on the island?" Oliver said looking up at me, some tears in his eyes. I didn't say anything, just shook my head no. "You."

"Me?" I said shocked.

"Thinking of seeing you, promising myself I would finally tell you what an idiot I was and how much I love you, kept me fighting each and every day I was there." Oliver said with a sigh. He pulled out a picture of Laurel, that was worn and tattered. I kind of had to laugh.

"I know I'm sort of distorted right now, but that's not a picture of me honey. That's Laurel." I said with a laugh.

"No" He said with a slight laugh. "This was all I had with me, but the image of you in my head was everything. I remembered every detail of your face, and this sat in my pocket. I talked about you all the time, to anyone I happened to come across before I made it home. You brought me home Aubrey."

"I'll always be here to bring you home Oliver." I said before kissing him. "You should go home."

"No I'm going to stay here with you until you get sent home." He said not moving from his spot on the bed.

"Oliver..Hun...I love you..I really do...but you need a shower." I said with a laugh.

"Are you saying I smell?" Oliver asked with an expression of mock hurt on his face.

"Yup. You're all I fought bad guys sweaty and then combine that with slept in the hospital smell...phew it's a real stink bomb combination." I said with a giggle. I mentally chastised myself, who still giggles. I don't think I have done that since I was in high school.

"Well I see how it is. Tell a guy you love him and then kick him out. Real romantic Miss Martin." Oliver said before kissing me again and standing to grab his coat. "Fine I will go and shower. I will return fresh as a daisy, but I am asking Mom to stay with you until I get back."

"Deal." I said as I smiled and watched him walk towards the door. "Hey...I love you." I added causing him to turn back to smile at me.

"Love you more." He said with a cheesy grin. "I'll send mom in. Get some rest please."

"Yes sir." I said with a salute. I couldn't believe it. I had been beaten nearly to death, raped and yet here I was bruised, but happier than I have ever been. We had finally told each other how we felt, and it felt so good. Maybe we could finally get that happiness we both deserved. I guess only time would tell what laid ahead for our future, I only hoped that it was a happy ending, without too many more bumps and bruises.


	10. Authors Note

Soooooo sorry for the delay. I have been very busy at work and I am not yet sure where I want to take the rest of the story. I am still outlining where I want this to go. I should have an actual chapter update very soon.

Thank you for all your support and reviews!

-E


	11. Chapter 10

**One Month Later**

 **Oliver POV**

It had been a crazy night and I was so beyond thankful when the doctors informed me that she would make a full recovery. She was everything to me, and I was so happy that we had finally told one another how we felt. Truth be told I've always loved her, and I probably could have saved myself a world full of pain by having just gotten together with her years ago. Then again knowing the guy I was back then, I probably would have found some way to screw it up and then I would have lost her forever. I wasn't about to make that mistake again. She was home and on the mend now, but we really hadn't acknowledge what we had said to each other since. We just sort of fell into a routine after I moved her into my room. I needed to be able to keep an eye on her, so I decided it was best to stop sleeping at the foundry and actually enjoy the very comfortable bed I have at the mansion.

Right now we were on our way to her first physiotherapy session, and Aubrey was determined to be up and walking in record time. The doctors had been beyond impressed by her recovery thus far. Probably due to her younger age, her hip was well on it's way to normal. She was one determined woman, and that was part of why I loved her. She never lets anything stand in her way, and dives head first into every problem. I had basically forced her to stay in bed for the last four weeks so that she had zero choice but to heal and watch movies with me. Well watch movies while she attempted to teach me how to be a proper CEO of Queen Consolidated. She had taken over her father's company years ago, and that was something that she had offered to give him insight on.

"Hey penny for your thoughts there Mr. Queen" Aubrey said as she poked me in the shoulder.

"Sorry was just thinking about how far you've come over the past month. You're really amazing you know that right?" I said before grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze.

"Yea I am pretty amazing...but it's great of you to notice." She said leaning towards me. I gathered she wanted a kiss, so I happily obliged and met her lips with my own. "Thank you Oliver. Really thank you so much."

"For what?" I asked very confused.

"For everything. For saving me, for helping me this last month. Or I guess not helping, more like forcing me to heal the last month." She said with a soft smile. "I would not be here today if it had not been for you."

"You never have to thank me." I said as I moved closer to her in the back of the limo. "I will always come for you, always be here to help you. I love you."

"I love you too."She said before kissing me again. The car stopped signally to both of us that we had arrived. "Okay let's do this I guess."

"Let's do this." I said before getting out of the car and walking around to where Diggle was standing to help me get her into her chair.

We made our way into the rehab centre and I could sense how nervous she was. She wanted this so bad. It was not like she was paralysed but she was getting very frustrated with not being able to walk for longer than short bursts. She wanted to be able to move more freely around the house and get back to work without having to be wheeled around. She was very much an independent woman. I watched as she pulled up infront of the posts that would be her failsafe, her support to keep her from falling, and I kind of held by breath a bit. She really had come so far and I was so beyond proud of her. I decided to give her one last bit of encouragement before she started therapy, so I made my way over to her.

"Hey, you've got this." I said before leaning down to kiss her. She pulled herself up with ease, and took a few steps before resting. She wasn't winded, but I could tell she was pushing through some of the pain I knew she had to be feeling. Her hip wasn't completely dislocated, but they did have to almost pop it back into place. So everything took time to completely heal.

I could vaguely hear the physiotherapist providing words of encouragement, and telling her to not push herself too hard. He clearly did not know my girl very well. My girl, I smiled to myself at that thought. She was my girl, and I think it was about time I took my girl on a proper date. I signalled to her that I needed to make a call. She told me to go, do whatever I needed to do because she would be here for a few more hours. I decided to take her up on that so I could get to work on putting together the perfect date. It had to be simple, nothing too showy, and with that thought I got the perfect idea. I had Diggle drive me home so I could start making some calls. Florists, grocery drop off and several hours of cooking later I heard my phone buzz with a text from Aubrey. She was demanding to know what kind of top secret project I was working on. Threatening physical harm on me if I was about to get myself killed on some hood mission. I laughed at the thought of her chasing me around in her chair trying to beat me up.

About twenty minutes later I heard the front door open and yelling making it's way throughout the house. She was clearly not a fan of secrets, duly noted. I made my way out to the front of the house so that she would remain in the dark as to what I had planned for this evening.

"Hey how was the rest of Physio?" I asked with a smile.

"Oh no. Don't you smile your way out of this Queen?" She said as she pointed her index finger at me and gave me a fairly annoyed look. "Tell me what you're upto and…" She stopped herself as she seemed to pick up the scent of dinner from the kitchen. "What is that amazing smell?"

"I'm not up to anything devious, just cooking us a nice dinner." I said as I squatted down so that I was at eye level.

"You cook?" She asked even more confused. "Since when do you cook?"

"I guess I picked up a few skills while I was away." I said with a laugh. "Go get showered and then we will have our date."

"Date eh?" She said in a questioning tone. "What exactly should I be wearing for this date?"

"Whatever is comfortable, not too dressy. We're not leaving the property." I replied.

"Okay. I guess I'm going to get ready for a date." She said before heading towards the stairs. She was able to manage the stairs and has a chair upstairs waiting for her. I quickly made my way back to the kitchen to finish with dinner. I asked Diggle to hang around and bring her out to the back of the house once she was showered and ready. I quickly packed up our meal and made my way towards the old treehouse. I had decided a little picnic would be the perfect no pressure first date. I had just lit the last of the candles when I heard a "Wow" Come from behind me. When I turned around I saw Aubrey standing behind me. It wasn't Aubrey that was shocking me, it was the fact that she was standing by herself and Diggle was nowhere insight.

"Hey you going to leave a very tired girl standing here or are you going to help me sit down." She asked with a slight watery look in her eyes. She looked so beautiful. I had said casual, but even dressed casually she looked anything but. She wore a pale green sun dress, that hugged up waist and then flowed down to her knees. Her hair was slightly pinned back off her face, and it didn't even look like she was wearing makeup.

"How are you?" I asked as I made my way over to her. Leading her over to the blanket.

"I've had the company doing some research. And Queen Consolidated has been working on a serum that helps to rapidly heal damaged cells." She said looking up at me with the brightest eyes. "I guess you have a success of your hands Mr. Queen."

"What are you saying?" I asked clearly confused.

"I'm saying I'm healed Ollie." She said before leaning up to kiss me. "Now let's get to this date handsome. This all is so amazing Oliver. It's perfect."

"It had to be." I replied as I helped her sit down on the blanket. "I wanted everything to be perfect for you. You deserve perfect, and being with me I can almost guarantee that it won't always be perfect."

"If I'm with you then it is already perfect." Aubrey said with a smile. "Incredibly cheesy I know, but it's the truth. I have loved you for so long, that it really doesn't matter what we are doing, or where we are. It's perfect because I am with you."

"I thought I was supposed to be romancing you tonight, not the other way around." I asked with a slight laugh before pulling her in for another kiss. The kiss became a bit more heated and as badly as I wanted to take it further I thought we should take it one thing at a time. I figured I better explain myself, because the sad look on her face when I pulled away was killing me. "Hey, you have no idea how badly I want to...but maybe we should have some dinner first. You just became magically healed and I really don't want to push you too far and discover this magic serum isn't exactly working."

"No you are right. Slow is good. Besides this all smells so delicious, I would hate for it to go to waste." She said before giving me a very quick kiss. "Still blows my mind that you can cook."

"Had to feed myself somehow while I was on the island." I replied. "Okay let's dig in. Do you think wine is acceptable after taking that serum? We are now celebrating a little something more special than us pulling our very stubborn heads out of our asses."

"I think it would be a terrible idea to celebrate without wine." She said passing me a glass out of the basket. "Hey I love you."

"I love you." I replied with a genuine smile before pouring each of us a glass of red wine. We toasted to us, and to her miraculous recovery. For the first time in a long time, I felt at peace, truly at peace. Aubrey did that to me, she was my home. I would probably always have concerns about someone using her against me as the Arrow, but I knew that being with her would help me be human again. She is the first face, including my mother or sister, that I just knew I could trust. She would keep my secret, and I would always do everything I can to keep her safe and to always come home to her. Just like I had from that island.


	12. Chapter 11

**So sorry for the delay in updating. Things have been so crazy with the Holidays approaching and then over the Holidays myself and my husband both got the flu. Also having a little one running around like crazy can at times make it difficult to find a moment to sit down and really write out a good chapter. This is sort of a filler for now. A little update as to where Aubrey and Ollie are post-first date, and a little drama as well.**

 **Hope everyone had an amazing holiday season and a Happy New Year! Hoping 2017 brings more opportunities to update and that you all will continue with your support and reviews!**

 **Thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing, please keep it up! This story is still very much a work in progress and I am really enjoying hearing what you like, what you dislike and any suggestions you all may have!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **-E**

 **Aubrey POV**

The date had been perfect. Simple, and just us getting to know each other under the context of our new relationship. We had been friends for so many years that I was worried it would be awkward. That we wouldn't know how to act around one another anymore, but that night and even since then we have had such natural chemistry. I still stayed in a separate room from Ollie at the manor. It seemed that we would be rushing things if we just started camping out in the same room. I did however often stay in his room, as he still had nightmares about the island from time-to-time, but when I slept next to him they never seemed to come. It had been about a week since our magical picnic first date, and Ollie was officially jumping in and working alongside Moira to eventually take over the Queen consolidated entirely. It was proving difficult since Moira was quite often being secretive and was obviously distracted since Walter's disappearance.

The police were searching for him, but it appeared that they had no leads. Moira was naturally worried, after all she had lost one husband, I could only imagine the fear she must be feeling at possibly losing a second to the grim reaper. Moira was a good woman, I knew that, but lately it seemed that Oliver was worried that she had gotten involved in something, something that was dangerous. I shook the idea off, sure that the woman I had come to know and love as a mother, would never do anything to put her city or her family in danger. I was just heading down to the kitchen for some coffee before I headed into the city to get all prepped and ready for my 10 o'clock meeting when I ran into Moira in the sitting room.

"Aubrey, honey are you sure I can persuade you to have a bodyguard of your own?" Moira asked as she followed me into the kitchen.

"Moira, I am sure I will be just fine." I said before pouring a cup of coffee.

"I would just really feel better knowing everyone is safe and protected, at least until we find Walter. You never know what these crazy lunatics will try next." Moira said, fear evident in her tone.

"Moira, it really means the world to me that you consider me part of this family, but I promise I will be just fine on my own." I said with a smile as I placed a hand on hers. "And we will find Walter. I promise you we will."

"Thank you sweetheart, I wish I held your confidence, but I do truly believe in my heart of hearts that Walter is still alive." Moira said with a sad smile. "I just hope we get him home soon."

"We will." I said sternly. "Now I am off to work I have a 10 o'clock and then I believe I am meeting Ollie for a quick lunch, Did you want to join us?"

"No sweetheart, I'll leave you kids to it." She said her smile brightening slightly. "Aubrey honey, I'm so happy you two finally found your way to one another. It was always my hope that someday you two would get married, and give me lot's of beautiful grandbabies, I still hope that dream comes true. I know it would have made Robert very happy as well."

"Thank you Moira, that is a dream of mine as well someday." I replied happily before heading out to the car that was waiting in front of the manor. I couldn't help the smile that I wore the entire ride into the office. Marriage and babies with Oliver was truly a dream of mine. Although I was not sure how that would play out with this new "Hood" lifestyle he was leading, I did still truly hope that one day we would have our happy ending and just have a time to be a family.

The morning flew by fairly quickly, actually quite quickly since I hadn't even realized what time it was when Ollie walked in the door. I had been working on several grants proposals and other seemingly boring pieces of paper work when I heard my assistance say that Oliver had arrived.

"Hey handsome." I smiled up at him, relieved and happy that the a break was in sight.

"Ready to be whisked away for an alfresco lunch?" Oliver said with a wink before leaning down to kiss me.

"Yes I most certainly am. I thought I would never look up from this endless stack of paperwork, be glad you're still shadowing your mother and are not responsible for all the signing of important documents yet. It's quite taxing on the soul." I said with a slight laugh.

"Well happy I could be of service then madame." He said with a mock french accent as he pulled me up into a warm embrace. "So I was thinking that we are definitely due for another date night and maybe even a sleepover."

"Mr. Queen how forward of you!" I said in a tone of mock shock. "I definitely agree, we are due for a night out, but tonight I am hanging out with Felicity. She has something she wants to talk to me about, but I could definitely be persuaded into having a sleepover."

"Sleepover it is. You have fun with Felicity, Diggle and I have some work to keep us busy tonight anyways. Now shall we, before my mother calls me back to the office for yet another boring board meeting." Oliver said with a wink, as he lead me out of the office and to the elevators.

"So I was thinking Italian for lunch?" Oliver asked as he hopped into the elevator.

"Italian sounds amazing." I replied. We engaged in pleasant small talk until the other business associates left the elevator. Upon their departure we almost immediately began making out. I couldn't seem to keep my hands off him, and for tonight's sleepover I don't think I could hold back any longer. We pulled apart almost as quickly as we had collided together once the familiar ding of the elevator bell signalled that we had reached the lobby. It felt so good to be able to just be with Oliver, he was the man of my dreams and it truly felt that life had changed for the better, especially since I had been blessed with that serum that had helped me heal from Mr. jackass' attack. They still hadn't found him, part of me wondered if he was involved in what was going on with Walter, but Oliver assured me that the two were not linked.

We made our way through the lobby and once we headed outside I noticed how bright and beautiful it was and convinced Ollie that we should walk. The restaurant was not far and I had really wanted to enjoy some sunshine. The walk took us past Queen Consolidated, and we both noticed Moira standing outside talking with an asian man. Oliver mumbled something about recognizing him from somewhere, but I hadn't really paid much attention, because it seemed that something was up. And almost as if like a memory I saw it all unfold in my mind before anything had even happened. I saw a man flying by on a motorcycle headed straight for Moira and this man. I saw the man pull a gun, and open fire on the pair. I saw Oliver pulling me to the ground, and then running after biker like a madman. And then just as quickly as the vision came, it left. And as it left, it filled me with a sense of panic. Oliver must have sensed it too, because he stopped and moved to face me.

"Aubrey what's wrong? You're shaking?" Oliver asked as he took both my hands in his.

"Somethings wrong, somethings going to happen." I said not even understanding myself.

"What do you mean something is going to happen?" He asked moving his hands from mine. He placed one hand on each of my cheeks and forced me to look him in the eye. "Aubrey tell me whats going on? One minute we're talking about my mother and that man over there, and the next you're trembling. Talk to me."

"I just had a vision, but it was like a memory almost. I don't understand how, but it's like I was seeing something that hasn't even happened. " I said with a sigh. "I saw your mother and that man talking, and some guy on a motorcycle shooting at them."

Seconds later we heard the roar of a motorbike, and only a second after that we heard the gunshots. Sure enough Oliver pulled me down to the ground and threw his body on top of mine. When the shots stopped we heard the bike roar again and both looked up to see Moira and the man she had been speaking with on the ground.

"Go after him, I'll see to your mother." I said before we both ran off in our respective directions.

"Moira!" I yelled as I ran over to where she laid. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding when I saw that she was moving, but then gasped again when I saw her once pristine suit covered in blood.

"I'm fine, Aubrey. I'm fine it's not my blood." She said as she turned to the man who had been hit. "Oh god."

"He's gone." I said as I moved my fingers to search for his pulse. "Do you have any idea why someone would do this Moira? Does this have to do with Walter's disappearance?"

"I don't know honey. I just don't know" She said as she allowed me to help her up.

"Come on let's get you cleaned up and let the paramedics check you over." I said leading her over to where the ambulance was pulling up. Oliver had not yet returned and I was starting to worry that maybe something had happened. Thankfully, I hadn't heard anymore gunshots, but that didn't really do anything to ease the feeling of worry. After Moira was check out, we headed back to the manor to clean off the blood and get her into some fresh clothes. I texted Oliver to let him know that was where we would be. He said he replied quickly telling me he would be home shortly. That helped ease my panic, and allowed me to focus on a very shaken Moira Queen.

"Thank you honey, so sorry this cause you to miss your lunch with Ollie." Moira said with a weak smile.

"There will be a million more opportunities for Ollie and I to have lunch. There is no other place I would be Moira." I said before pulling her into an embrace. "You have always been a mother to me, and I was so scared today when I thought I had lost you too."

It was true, I had not only been afraid because of the vision I had just experienced moments prior to Moira's attack, but also at the thought that I had almost lost two mothers. I would have to do some research and figure out what they hell had happened with my sudden "visions", but for now I wanted to be here with Moira. To help her in any way that I can.


	13. Authors Note: Sorry!

So sorry for the delay. I have just been swamped at work with several big meetings to prepare for. I have a couple rough chapters written but not completed yet. Hoping to get an update posted ASAP. Thanks so much for your patience and continued support.

-E


	14. Chapter 12

**Sorry it's been so long. Here is a short chapter update. Hope you enjoy and keep the feedback coming! I am loving all the reviews and really enjoying everyone's suggestions for the story.**

 **-E**

 **Oliver POV**

I didn't catch him. Someone shot at my mother and I didn't catch him. Nothing frustrated me more than seeing someone who tried to hurt the ones I love get away. I made my way back to where my mom and Aubrey stood. They had been ushered inside Queen Consolidated to be checked out in a more secure area. I offered a slight smile to them both as I approached. Aubrey looked relieved, while my mother looked terrified.

"Mom are you okay?" I asked as I hugged her tightly. "Did you get hit?"

"No honey, I'm fine." She said as she kept me in the embrace. As she pulled away she began to scold me. "What on earth were you thinking running after that madman?"

"Mom he could have killed you. He did kill someone and probably injured others in his rampage." Oliver said in defense of his actions. "I can't just let someone hurt you and get away with it."

"Oliver, dear let the police handle it. I am sure they will find him and bring him to justice." Mom said as she placed a hand upon my cheek. "Well as you can see I am fine. So you two should get to your lunch plans. I don't want to be a bother to anyone. I will get my driver to take me back home."

"Moira, you are not a bother. Let us go with you." Aubrey said as she laid a hand on my mothers arm.

"No you two kids, have had far too many things stand in your way. I won't be one of them. Go for your lunch and then come back to the house. We will have a family dinner." Mom said looking back and forth between myself and Aubrey with a sad smile, realizing that Walter wouldn't be there as he was still missing.

"Moira how did you?" Aubrey asked clearly confused as to how my mother knew we were together.

"A mother knows these things my dear. Besides I have seen the way you two look at each other since you were kids. You have no idea how happy this makes me and how happy it would have made your father Oliver." My mom said with a smile. She definitely was a smart woman

"Mom, we will find Walter." I said trying to offer her some comfort or reassurance that we would get Walter back. "I promise you we will."

"I truly hope you're right Oliver. I don't know if I can handle losing anybody else that I love." Mom replied before giving me and Aubrey another hug. "Now go! Have your lunch. I mean it, you kids were meant to be, and I am so happy you both finally realized it."

"Thank you mom." I said with a bright smile. She pulled me into one last hug and whispered in my ear before letting go.

"There is the Oliver I remember. When you came back I never thought that I would see that happiness in you again honey. Hold on to her and don't ever let her go." She whispered into my ear.

"Are you sure we can't come with you and make sure you get home safe?" Aubrey offered one last time.

"No honey. I am fine. I just need a nice hot bath and a good stiff drink. Have a nice time and I will see you both at home." Mom said before heading to her car.

"Did you catch him?" Aubrey asked me once my mother was no longer in earshot.

"No, but I am going to find out what the hell that was about." I replied. "Let's go. You can tell me all about what the hell that vision stuff was about."

"Ollie, I wish I knew. It just hit me out of nowhere. I can't explain it, but as soon as I saw your mother I just became filled with this uneasiness in the pit of my stomach and then the vision came on." She replied.

"We'll figure it out okay. For now let's go grab some lunch and maybe head to the lair for some investigation time." I said before kissing her forehead.

"I'll call Felicity. It may have been a one time invitation to help team Hood, but we could use her hacking skills to help us get some answers faster." Aubrey said before sending her friend Felicity a quick text to meet us at the lair.

"So big belly burger?" I asked with a smirk.

"Fine, but if we keep it up I'm going to end up with a big belly." Aubrey replied with a laugh.

"That's okay more of you to love." I said before kissing her softly.

"Yeah we'll see about that pal." She said with a laugh. "This is kind of nice don't you think? No secrets?"

"It is definitely nice. Not having to keep the hood from you, but I just worry that something may happen to you because of my mission. It's been my fear even before I came back that someone I love would get hurt because of what I have vowed to do."

"Hey, I am not going anywhere. Besides I have a pretty hunky vigilante to keep me safe." She said with a seductive smirk.

"And you always will." I said before we headed into Big Belly burger. I meant it too. I would always be there to protect her, and I'll be damned if any of my enemies would ever lay a hand on a single hair on her head.


	15. Chapter 13

Aubrey POV

We made our way back to the lair with food in tow. I figured we would be here all afternoon so I cancelled my meetings and made myself available to help in any way. I also figured we might as well bring food for Felicity and Diggle too, after all they were part of the team. Oliver always cringed when I called it Team Arrow, and now Felicity seemed to be catching on to the name as well. He had intended this to be a solo mission, but if I have any say in this he will make room for some teammates. I needed to know that he has people around him that are watching his back.

"You know these stairs and heels...not a great mix." I said as we made our way down to the basement of verdant. It hadn't opened yet, but Oliver and Tommy had done a great job at getting this place ready to be a hot spot for the partiers of the city. Of course Tommy had no idea that this secret room existed, but I did worry about what would happen when he did find out.

"Hop on." Oliver said as he stopped before I had made it very far down the stairs.

"What? No way!" I said shocked that he was offering to carry me down the stairs.

"Aubrey, hop on." He said again as he placed his arms behind him to catch my legs. I could tell he was serious about it, so I decided to indulge him. I cautiously leapt onto his back and he grabbed my legs firmly without even losing his balance.

"Holy shit." I said terrified that we were going to go tumbling down the stairs. "You're seriously going to carry my big belly burger ass down these stairs."

"Light as a feather." He said with a laugh.

"Yea the groan as I hopped on tells a different story." I said laughing back and swatting him lightly on the shoulder.

"Hey no hitting the driver." He said before making his way down the stairs. I would have to remember to bring flats or tennis shoes to wear down here so that he wouldn't feel compelled to carry me down every time.

"You know you're kind of a romantic Mr. Queen offering to carry a girl down to your liar." I said with a giggle. It sounded ridiculous that this was my idea of a fun afternoon lunch date, but I really didn't care what we did, as long as I was with him.

"I aim to please Miss Martin." He said as he put me down.

"Okay Diggle came and got me so I assume my skills are needed for Team Arrow again?" Felicity asked as her and Diggle walked down the stairs.

"That's not what this is called." Oliver said with a sigh and a glance to me.

"What I think it's a great team name." I said offering him a sweet smile that pled my innocence. "Look if you're going to do this you have to have help. There is no way you can take down the city's worst alone. So let Felicity, Diggle and me help in any way we can."

"Aubrey I…" He began but I interrupted him.

"Don't want to get anyone else involved in your fight I know." I said as I walked up to him and placed a hand on either one side of his face. "I will feel so much better knowing that you have people looking out for you. So please if only for me...let them help."

"Fine...welcome to the team." Oliver said with a sarcastic smile.

"I could do without the sarcasm, but thanks happy to help." Felicity said as she sat down and started messing around with the computers Oliver had laid out on the desks. "So who are we looking to take down tonight?"

"We don't know." I said as I turned to Felicity who raised an eyebrow at me in confusion.

"Someone shot at my mother and her colleague today. My mother was unharmed, but her colleague was not so lucky." Oliver said as he paced the liar. "I need to figure out who the shooter was and who hired him."

"Okay do we have anything to go on?" Felicity asked as she turned back to the computers.

"I got a license plate off the shooters bike, that's about it." Oliver said as he placed the plate number in front of her.

"Okay I will start my search." Felicity said as she excitedly began typing away.

"Hey you okay?" I asked Oliver as I saw him standing back staring into an old wooden box of items he must have kept from his time on the island.

"Yeah, just thinking." He replied before turning and wrapping his arms around my waist. I placed my arms around his neck and held him there.

"About…?" I asked with a smirk.

"My mom. Felicity approached me a few days ago with a notebook that had been given to her by Walter." He said avoiding my eyes. I turned his head to force him to look me in the eyes. The expression on my face broke my heart, but not as much as his next words. "I think my mother is involved in Walter's disappearance."

"Ollie...no. She loves Walter she would never...what makes you think that she is involved?" I asked searching his eyes for more.

"The notebook was filled with names, the same names that I have in the notebook my dad gave me. And Walter said it was hers." Oliver said sadly before pulling away from me.

"So you confront her...you investigate, but Ollie don't doubt her just yet." I said following him.

"Don't you think I want to believe the best, that my mother is innocent in this. Of course I do, but my father was not who I thought he was, so how can I not assume the same of my mother." Oliver said turning back to look at me, his tone a bit more forceful than I had expected.

"Look we will investigate and follow her around if we have to, but I will not give up hope that the woman who practically raised me is innocent of this. Even if you already have." I said sadly. "I love you Oliver, but you have to stop trying to find reasons to push the people you love away. Finding guilt in your mother is exactly that, a reason for you to keep her at arm's length."

"Aubrey...that's not what I am doing. I just have to figure out how this is all connected. There has to be something bigger at play then just Walter being taken. There is too much that bleeds together." he said as he stood back in front of me again. "I'm not giving up hope...I think if anything I may be holding out too much hope that she isn't involved."

"Okay, so let's get to work." I said leaning up to kiss him. "And I actually have to get back to work...I have a few more meetings that I couldn't cancel. Call or text me when you find something okay."

"Okay." He said with a soft smile.

"Felicity, try not to have too much fun. John always a pleasure." I said as I made my way to the bottom of the stairs. I looked up at them dauntingly.

"Need another lift?" Oliver asked with a more genuine smile.

"No I'll manage, but you should really consider a lair with a secret elevator or something...stairs are soooo overrated." I said as I began to hall my ass up the long flight that led back into Verdant.

"Noted! Maybe in Liar 2.0" I heard Oliver yell sarcastically. I rolled my eyes as I heard him. I made my way up the stairs and then headed back to my office. I wasn't going to presently be much help in the liar so I figured I would take the time to get some work done.


	16. Chapter 14

**Another quick updated for you all! I have really become re-inspired to write this story. Since I am on a bit of a roll you can expect more updates over the next few weeks. Enjoy and keep the reviews coming!**

 **Several Weeks Later - Aubrey POV**

Oliver had made the decision to meet with Frank Bertinelli, unfortunately that resulted him in once again being shot. Turns out Frank's daughter Helena has a bit of a vendetta against him, more specifically she wants him dead. Oliver however thinks there is something worth redeeming in her. He has brought her into the fold and something tells me that was a huge mistake. I was so mad, not only because he brought her to the lair to hide out, but also because he did it all without talking to me about it. Oh and I also had to hear about it over breakfast with Felicity.

"He did what?" I yelled louder than I probably should have.

"He brought Helena to the lair last night after she attempted to assassinate her father." Felicity whispered. "He's been training her trying to bring her back from the dark side."

"That's so Oliver...he redeemed himself, so that means there is hope for everyone." I said with an annoyed tone. I love Oliver. He is such a good man, but sometimes I think since the island he has been trying to help every lost soul he comes across. Helena Bertinelli, was not someone worth redeeming...she was a spiteful, evil bitch...and I feared Oliver was going to learn about it the hard way.

"Somebody sounds jealous." Felicity said with a smirk before shoving a mouthful of bacon in her mouth.

"You are a terrible Jew...and I am not jealous." I said as I pointed out the pork she just put in her mouth.

"Hey keep the judgement to yourself...you're not exactly a religious woman either Miss twice a year catholic." Felicity said with a laugh.

"Regardless, I am not jealous. I love Oliver and he loves me. I don't doubt that for a second." I said with a sigh. "I just don't want to see him get caught in the crossfire, even if he can hold his own."

"We'll keep an eye on him Bri. Thanks for getting me into this team by the way." Felicity said with a bright smile. "I'm really enjoying stretching my hacker legs again. It has been far too long for me."

"Well you're welcome. I am glad my boyfriend's crusade can bring you such joy." I said as I took a sip of my coffee. "Where is my boyfriend this morning anyways? He was gone before I left...nevermind. He's training with her isn't he?"

"If I say yes are you going to storm down there and give him a piece of your mind? Because if you do, please avoid the computers in any object tossing." Felicity said as she cringed at the idea of me hurting her precious electronics.

"I will keep that in mind." I said as I got the waiter to bring us the cheque. I placed some cash on the table and stood up straightening my dress as I did. "Thanks for meeting me. I feel like the only time we hang out now is when we're doing our team hood business. So I wanted to have a little girl talk."

"Yeah it was nice to feel like a girl again for a moment." Felicity said with a smile. "Try not to be too hard on him Bri...it's coming from a good place. He just doesn't want to see someone let revenge consume them."

"I get that Lissy...but I have a feeling this isn't going to go as Ollie plans and if she exposes him. I'll lose him all over again." I said sadly realizing that if Helena exposed Oliver to the authorities Lance will happily lock him up and throw away the key.

"Aubrey!" I heard a male voice say from behind me. I turned and saw Tommy approaching us, with laurel in tow.

"Tommy, Laurel so great to see you two back together." I said with a genuine smile.

"Thanks Bri." Tommy said with a bright smile. He was so happy and I was so happy for him. We finally both were with the people we love more than anyone in this world. "Will I be seeing you at the club opening tomorrow night?"

"Where else would I be. You and Ollie have turned this club hobby of yours into a real job. I'm proud of both of you." I said before hugging him. "Speaking of Ollie I am off to meet up with him at the club, said he had something to talk to me about. It was great seeing you again Laurel."

"You too Aubrey." Laurel said under a fake smile.

"Felicity I will see you later." I said before heading out the door.

"Remember what I said...be careful of the computer's!" She yelled as I left the restaurant. I had to laugh, she really was obsessed with her computers. We had to find her someone who loves electronics as much as she does.


	17. Chapter 15

**Another update for you! I again was on a roll and the words just started flowing. Hope everyone enjoys it...spoiler alert**** it gets intimate!**

 **Oliver POV**

I had been doing some hand-to-hand combat training with Helena when I heard the door to the lair opening and the clanking of a familiar pair of high heeled shoes making their way down the stairs. She was moving faster than usual which was surprising since she was in heels. When she reached the bottom of the stairs I finally turned to look at her. She looked gorgeous in her black fitted pencil skirt and sateen purple blouse. Her hair fell in soft curls around her face and she wore very little makeup. She was simply gorgeous and from the look in her face...mad.

"Hey Bri...what's brings you down here so early? I thought you had meetings this morning?" I asked her with a soft smile as I walked towards her and away from Helena.

"I do actually." She said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, pushing her cleavage up in just the right way. I had to keep myself from staring. I could see her eyeing Helena and it only seemed to annoy her more. "Helena, do you mind if Oliver and I have a moment alone?"

"Not at all. Thanks for the workout." Helena purred before walking up the stairs. I rolled my eyes in annoyance, because that was not in any way helping get me out of the dog house. "Aubrey always such a pleasure to see you."

"Yeah." Aubrey said before walking over to the desk where Felicity sat. "Sooooo."

"So what's up?" I asked her with a smile as I walked over to give her a kiss. She turned away from me. Oh yeah I was in trouble.

"What's up? That's what you want to lead with right now?" She asked me as she leaned against the table.

"What do you want me to say Bug?" I said trying to appeal to the softer side of Aubrey, but clearly there was no thaw happening right now.

"Oh no...don't Bug me right now. I am furious with you." She said as she began to pace, something I noticed her and Felicity both had in common when they were reaming me out.

"Bri...I…" I began but she wouldn't let me finish.

"No let me get this out." She said directing me to sit in Felicity's chair. "You let a highly unstable, revenge filled mobster's daughter into this lair. Introduce her to Diggle and Felicity, but didn't feel your girlfriend needed to know about this?"

"Aubrey, this is just about trying to get her to realize revenge isn't going to solve her anger." I replied as I took her hands in mine and forced her to stop walking around.

"Oliver I'm not jealous. That is not what this is about. I love you and I know you love me." She said putting a hand on either of my cheeks. "You've put us all in danger by exposing this team to her. If she realizes you're not going to help her get revenge she will expose you to Lance. And he will be more than happy to lock you up and throw away the key."

"Bri...everything is going to be okay. I promise." I said before pulling her in for a kiss.

"I don't like her and I don't trust her." She said before leaning her forehead on mine. "I have a bad feeling about this Ollie. Just please be careful"

"I will be." I said before turning her around so she was leaning against the table and captured her lips in a passionate kiss. "Hey you know I would never do anything to intentionally put you in danger right?"

"I know that Ollie. I just really have a bad feeling about her." Aubrey said sadly. "I can't lose you again."

"You are not going to lose me ever again Aubrey. I'm not letting you go ever...I have already wasted too much time not spending my life with you." I said before kissing her again.

"Than let's stop wasting time." She whispered once we pulled back from our kiss. I moved so that I was looking her in the eye. "I don't want to waste anymore time Oliver. I love you."

"And I love you." I said placing my hands on her hips. I was anxiously awaiting her next move. I had wanted to move things to the next level since she had been healed from her injuries, but I needed her to be ready. Everything she had been through with that idiot Mark, had me very cautious when making moves to get intimate with her. She had to take the reigns on this.

"Then show me Oliver." She said before pulling me down to kiss her once again. "Show me how much you love me."

I didn't have to be asked twice. I quickly deepened the kiss and lifted her up to sit on the table. She giggled for a moment as her hip hit the side of one of the computers. I took this moment to look at her and smile.

"Felicity asked we keep clear of the computers." She said with a bright smile. I laughed at the image of Felicity walking in on us having sex on her computer stations. Luckily, I remembered that I still have a cot here. I took a moment to slide her tight skirt up a bit, allowing her to wrap her legs around me as I picked her up and led her over to where the cot was. I suddenly felt uneasy about this, I didn't want our first time together since we were teenagers to be down here on this cot. She must have sensed something was up. "Hey what's wrong?"

"I want the first time we're together again to be special." I said with a sigh as I let my head rest on her shoulder.

"Oliver…" She said as she lifted my face to look at hers. "I want you, on this cot, in our bed, in any and every way I can have you."

"I love you Aubrey Martin, so much." I said before I laid her down on the cot. Before I could hover over her she leaned up to remove her blouse. Pulling it gracefully over her head.

I leaned down to kiss her lips, then moved to her neck and her breasts. I wanted to love every inch of the woman in front of me. Just like I had when we were 18. Just like I had imagined for all those years that I had been gone. As I explored her body I felt her hands roaming across my strong back. The softness of her skin against mine made me groan as I did my best to hold it together. I had not exactly been celibate while I was on the island, but it had certainly been a long time since I had been with anyone. However, Aubrey wasn't just anyone. She was the one. So I had a feeling this was not going to last very long once I was finally inside her.

"O-l-i-v-e-r!" I hear her moan as I slipped my hand under her skirt, shifting it up even higher so that it sat bunched up at her waist. I had hit that sweet spot and every time my fingers brushed past it I could feel her tremble and hear her moans. "Please...Ollie...I need you."

"Aubrey...you have no idea what you do to me. What you've always done to me." I moaned into her neck as she began to rub me through my pants, fumbling with the buckles as she did.

"Please, I need to feel you." She moaned again before I captured her lips with mine. Moments later she had managed to get the buckle undone and was pumping her hand around me. I was going to come undone if she kept that up so I was more than happy to oblige her in her request.

"It's been a while...this may not last very long." I said with a slight laugh. She just smiled at me and pulled me back down for a kiss. I continued the heated kiss while I began to maneuver my pants down further. When I was able to kick them down far enough I moved myself so that I was positioned at her entrance. I could feel the heat off of her already and it made me moan against her lips. Seconds later I pressed myself inside of her at a painfully slow pace.

"Oh god." She whispered once I had filled her completely. I had to sit still for a moment to revel in the feel of her walls around me. I felt as though I could come undone without even one thrust. "Please Oliver."

Her begging words breathed a new life into me. A new sense of desire and the energy to move. I began to thrust slowly at first. Slowly and deeply, until I felt her nails dig into my back. Had I not already been covered in scars I would have been worried that it would leave a mark. With each thrust I felt the tension of our releases building. I quickened my pace needing to feel her come for. Needing to drive her to that place, and in doing so we reached our peaks together. She arched her back into me as she cried out and I practically collapsed on top of her as I spilled everything I had inside of her. My face buried in her neck, she began to run her fingers through my hair and in that moment I had never felt so at peace.

"Well that was definitely an improvement from 18 year old Oliver." Aubrey said with a laugh. I smiled into her neck and began to tickle her side. "Ollie stop."

"I feel like I lasted about as long as a teenageer." I said as I rolled over so that I was on my back, and pulled her with me, so that she laid on top of me. I still hadn't pulled out of her. "You really have no idea the effect you have one me do you?"

"I am beginning to get an idea of the effect I seem to have on you and I wager it's something similar to the effect you have on me. Especially when you do that thing." She said as she pointed at the salmon ladder and smiled. There really were not enough words to describe how much I love this woman, but I intended to spend the rest of my life finding them.

"So does this mean I am forgiven for bringing Helena into the fold?" I asked with a smirk. That earn me a swat on the chest and her removing herself off me to adjust her skirt and search for her bra and blouse.

"I still don't trust her Ollie, but fine help her see the light." She said sarcastically. "Just be cautious okay."

"Okay." I said with a soft smile as I pulled myself to stand and pull my pants back up. Just in the nick of time too, because moments later Felicity and Diggle came down the stairs.

"So how exactly are we going to ensure that nobody finds this place when the club opens up?" Felicity asked as she came to sit at her computer table. She gave us a once over before she spoke. "No…..you didn't. Oh god please tell me you two did not have sex on this table? Or any other surface in this lair."

"Don't worry Felicity we limited our activities to the cot." Aubrey said with a smile. "Oh shit I have a meeting I have to get back to the office for."

She gave me a quick kiss and then grabbed her shoes and headed up the stairs complaining about how overrated they were with every step. I had to laugh, for a woman who was in such great physical shape she sure did hate exerting herself to do the simplest of activities. I yelled "I love you" to her before Felicity, Diggle and I got to work searching for more leads in the hunt for Walter and how it connected to Frank Bertinelli.


	18. Chapter 16

**Another update for you! A little bit of Aubrey's power in this one...don't worry I will get into the meat of her powers soon. I think I will also be expanding her abilities...not sure to what extent, but stay tuned!**

 **Aubrey POV**

Oliver continued his training with Helena, much to my chagrin. Slowly but surely she was proving me right. She was not to be trusted. One night they were out on a patrol and I was back at the foundry with Felicity and Diggle, Helena decided to start showing her true intentions. She killed a man, unnecessarily. As I heard Oliver yelling for her to stop I was hit with a premonition. Just like the one I had before the gunman opened fire at Moira. I gripped the table tightly as I closed my eyes and began to almost seize.

"Aubrey?" Felicity yelled. "Aubrey oh my god. Dig, help me lay her down on the cot."

"No!" I yelled. "I'm fine."

"Aubrey, that was far from fine." Diggle said as he helped me into a seat.

"It was a vision...a side effect of the drug that helped me heal quickly." I said with a sigh. That vision had taken a lot out of me. I took a moment to regain my composure, then I would have to call detective Lance and tell him what was going to happen. Hopefully Helena wouldn't catch on, and then she would get caught before she can get Oliver wrapped up in her mess.

"What did you see in this vision?" Felicity asked as she crouched down to look up at me.

"I saw Helena going after her father, and Oliver getting shot." I said as I continued to catch my breath. "Oliver tried to stop her from killing her father and instead she shot him. I have to call detective Lance, he can arrest her before she has a chance to shoot him."

"Okay I will call him." Felicity said as she ran to grab her phone. Just as we got a hold of detective Lance Oliver chimed into the comms.

"Felicity I need a location on the tracker I placed on Helena." Oliver said with a sigh. "She is going rogue."

"She's on route to her father's mansion." Felicity said into the comms. She then closed off her mic and spoke into the phone to give detective Lance the details of where Helena was going and what she had planned. I sighed in frustration that she was living up to exactly who I thought she was. I just prayed that she was caught before she could hurt Oliver. We listened in on the comms as Helena was surrounded. I decided to jump in and speak up.

"Oliver get out of there!" I yelled into the comms. "If Lance has a chance he will take you in with Helena."

"She's right Oliver." Felicity said into the comms as well. Luckily Bertinelli's home was wired for security so Felicity was able to hack into the system and pick up a video feed of Helena being carted away. We could hear her yelling at her father that she would find him and have her revenge. And then she said the words I always feared would come out of her mouth.

"I know who the Hood is!" Helena yelled before being shoved into the back of a cruiser.

"Oh god Felicity." I said with a gasped realizing what this meant. I had to make a call. "Get Oliver back here now!"

"Tommy, I need you to meet me at Verdant now!" I said as I ran up those stairs from hell. As I reached the top I nearly ran right into Oliver's chest. "Shit Ollie sorry."

"What has you in such a hurry." Oliver asked as he placed a hand on either side of me to make sure I didn't fall on my ass.

"You're not going to like it." I said with a sigh.

"Okay spill." Oliver said giving me a questioning look.

"You have to tell Tommy about you being the Hood." I said so quickly I wasn't even sure he actually heard me.

"What Aubrey no. He's not ready to learn that." Oliver said angry.

"Oliver, Helena is going to blab to Lance that you are the Arrow." I said forcing him to look at me. "That was the last thing she yelled out to everyone before they shoved her ass in the police cruiser! She is going to tell Lance and he will lock you up."

"And what will telling Tommy do to prevent that?" He asked as his frustration grew.

"He can help us conceal the lair. We can unload one of the storage lockers down there. Fill the place with booze for a private event. Keeping Tommy in the dark is going to cause more problems for us, and for him." I said to him.

"Hey! What are you two arguing about?" Tommy asked as he came into the club.

"Well are you going to tell him or am I?" I asked Oliver as I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him a stern look.

"What is going on guys? You two breaking up or something?" Tommy asked clearly confused.

"Tommy I'm...I'm the hood." Oliver said with a sigh, avoiding Tommy's eyes.

"Yeah right and I'm Batman." Tommy said with a laugh. I figured it would be hard for him to accept, so I thought it would be best to show him.

"Tommy, Ollie is telling you the truth. Come down here, there is something we need to show you." I said as I led him over to the basement door.

"The basement? I thought you said it was flooded and useless Oliver?" Tommy said as I punched in the code for the door.

"I lied." Oliver said sadly.

"He did what he had to do in order to protect the people he cared about from getting hurt." I said as I turned to give Oliver a sympathetic look.

"That day we were attacked when you first came back, I knew something was up so why didn't you tell me then?" Tommy asked angrily.

"Because I didn't want anyone to know about it. I came back home with a mission to clean up this city, and I intended for it to be a solo mission." Oliver said trying to explain to his best friend why he lied.

"Tommy, we were going to tell you. I was always going to make sure you found out about this eventually, but right now we have a big problem. Lance is about to be told who the hood is, and I know that he will come down on Oliver with everything he can." I said practically in tears. "Tommy please help us hide everything down here."

"Look Tommy, I promise no more secrets or lies, but right now we need to make this lair disappear before Lance gets a warrant to search Verdant." Oliver said in a pleading tone.

"Hey it's Merlyn, yea I need you guys to bring over all those extra tables, chairs and booze we had put in storage. We have a private event coming into the club this weekend and I would like to have everything on hand." Tommy said into his phone without even looking at us. "Move what you need to move everything will be here and unloaded within a half hour.

"Thank you Tommy." Oliver said trying to get Tommy to look at him.

"I didn't do this for you." Tommy said looking him in the eyes. Tommy was livid. He pointed at me as he spoke his next words. "I did this for her. I did this for her because she is basically my sister and she loves you. I'm tired of seeing the people I love hurt. So don't thank me, thank her. You're just a murderer trying to pretend to be a hero."

"Tommy!" I yelled shocked at him calling Oliver a murderer.

"No Bri, it's fine . He's right anyways." Oliver said accepting the defeat. Tommy stormed off to await the shipment, while Felicity and Diggle furiously packed up computers and more in the secret compartments Oliver had built into the floors when he set this place up. I felt like this was all my fault. My two best friends were at odds, and it was because of me.

"Oliver." I said as I tried to get him to look up at me, but he wouldn't he just kept looking down at the floor. "Hey look at me! You are not a murderer."

"Bri…" Oliver started but I didn't let him finish.

"No you just get to listen right now." I said placing my hands on his face. "You are not a murderer. Yes, you have killed before, probably more times then I ever care to know about, but you did it to survive. You Oliver Queen are a survivor, and a good man. A man that I love more than anything in this world, and I will always see that good in you no matter what you do."

"Thank-you." Oliver said before leaning forward to kiss me.

"For what?" I asked.

"For bringing me back from the darkness. Any good I have in me, is because of you." Oliver said with a sad smile.

"We will figure this out okay. You need to get home because that is the first place Lance is going to go to look for you." I said with a sigh. "I will stay here and help Felicity and Diggle. I'll also try and calm Tommy down."

He gave me a nod and then quickly changed back into his suit and headed to the manor. Sure enough within an hour Lance and a bunch of officers showed up at Queen manor and arrested Oliver. My heart nearly stopped as I saw him being carted away on the news. About 10 minutes after the story broke Lance showed up at Verdant demanding to see the basement. The look on his face when all the officers found was booze and extra furniture was priceless. He was duped, and if history has told me anything about detective Lance he did not appreciated being duped. Once Lance left I rushed to the police station to see Oliver.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I rushed into the interrogation room and hugged him. His mom and Thea were both in there with him. I gave him a wink before saying. "I came as soon as I heard."

"I'm okay, been in here the entire time." Oliver said as he wrapped his arms around me. They must have taken off his cuffs since he agreed to cooperate with the investigation. He gave me a soft kiss before the sound of the door opening interrupted us.

"Well Queen looks like you are free to go."Lance said as he placed the folder with a frustrated sigh. "But don't think for a second that I am going to let this go. I will figure out how you are doing this."

"I am not doing anything detective Lance. I hope some day you can forgive me for Sarah, but I understand that day may never come." Oliver said sadly before we walked out of the interrogation room his arm wrapped around my shoulder.

"Let's go home." I said before kissing him, pushing all the pent up stress and emotion of the day into it.

"Yeah, let's go home." He said as we pulled apart.


	19. Chapter 17

**Here is another update for you! Thank you so much for reading my story and all of the reviews! The other day this story hit 134 views in one day and I was so excited to see that! You guys are amazing and I really hope everyone is enjoying the story. Here is a bit more of Aubrey's powers!**

It had been a couple weeks since Oliver's arrest and subsequent release on charges of vigilantism and things had been going well. We had no new leads on what was going on in Starling and why Walter was still missing. By all accounts there should have been a ransom request or something...but nothing ever came through. Moira was devastated but seemed confident that he was still alive. Oliver's faith in his mother not being involved was definitely waning and it didn't help matters that Tommy still wouldn't talk to him. I felt terrible for Oliver, because his best friend had no real clue what he had been through. Unfortunately, that was because Oliver was too afraid to share it all with even me. I hoped that someday, maybe even one like today, as we lay naked in the afterglows of amazing morning sex, that he will finally share it all. I felt so relaxed and completely at peace as Oliver drew circles across my bare arms. I had my head laid down on his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. I felt his strong arms squeeze me just a bit tighter to him, and it always made me smile. I could not believe that this was all even real. That we were together finally.

"Penny for your thoughts." Oliver whispered into my hair.

"Just thinking about how happy I am right now." I said as I leaned up on my elbow to look at him. "What are you thinking about? You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders."

"I just need to find Walter and I need to know that my mother was not involved with this Bri." Oliver said with a sigh.

"We will find him. I promise you we will find him alive." I said as I placed a soft kiss on his lips. I then pulled myself out of his embrace and stood up to grab my robe.

"Where are you headed work on a Saturday?" He asked me.

"No, I am actually going to meet Tommy for breakfast at his place or I guess his dad's house." I said with a cautious smile. I could sense Oliver tensing at the mention of our best friend. "Is that okay with you?"

"Of course it is Bri. He is your friend too and besides I am your boyfriend not your keeper." Oliver said with a slight laugh. "I think it's good that you are hanging out with him. He still needs his friend."

"Hey, he will come around. It is a lot to take in. I mean look at where your life is right now babe?" I said with a smile. "You survived 5 years on an island, and now you are out here kicking all kinds of bad guy ass. It's only natural that Tommy would have a hard time adjusting to knowing that."

"I love you. You know what could be really helpful?" Oliver said with a smirk pulling me onto his lap.

"No, what would that be?" I asked before kissing him.

"If you had one of those vision things to help me find Walter." He said with a chuckle.

"Ugh...believe me if I could turn them on and off like that I would do it in a heartbeat to bring Walter back, but that doesn't seem to be how they work." I said with a sigh. "Walter is a good man, and if anything comes to me you will be the first to know. I want to help bring him home any way that I can."

"I know you do." Oliver said running a hand across my forehead softly. "We probably should try and talk to someone about these visions. Doesn't Felicity have friends at Star Labs that could maybe help us understand why you're having them and how they happen?"

"She might. I will be sure to ask her about it later." I said before kissing his lips softy. "Right now I need to go get ready for breakfast with Tommy and I believe you have a meeting with your new assistant...who by the way is going to try everything she possible can to get out of the job."

"I can't keeping running down to the basement every time I need Felicity for something relating to the hood. She will adjust and eventually enjoy the job, or at least appreciate the better salary." Oliver said as he laid back down on the bed. I headed to the shower and once I was finished it seemed Oliver had already left. I decided to go casual since it would just be Tommy and I. Throwing on jeans, a fitted white t-shirt and some tennis shoes I headed out the door. I had already blow dried my hair a bit and decided to let the rest air dry to its natural curl. The Merlyn's home was only about a 15 minute drive away from Queen manor so it was a fairly quick trip. I pulled up and noticed Mr. Merlyn saying goodbye to what I could only assume was some of his business associates I offered him a bright smile and a wave so that I didn't interrupt before making my way into the house. I could smell something cooking in the kitchen and I was happy to see Tommy flipping pancakes, my favourite.

"Good morning Tommy, everything smells so delicious." I said as I planted myself on a bar stool at the counter.

"Why thank you miss Martin. I do have a few talents in the kitchen and pancakes, blueberry pancakes to be more specific, are one of them." Tommy said before making his way over to me. He gave me a hug and a peck on the cheek. "I hope you don't mind my dad is heading out of town today so he is going to join us for breakfast before he heads off to make his flight."

"Sure, no problem at all. It's actually been ages since I've seen your dad." I said with a soft smile. "Is that bacon I smell too...you Tommy Merlyn are a keeper. I hope Laurel appreciates the master chef she has on her hands."

"I believe she does." I heard Malcolm Merlyn says as he walked into the kitchen. "Hi Aubrey, so great to see you kid. How have you been?"

"I have been…" I began but as soon as I hugged Malcolm I was hit with a vision. It was a vision of Malcolm and Moira, in the throws of passion. Then it was Malcolm threatening Moira and then it was Malcolm looking at a screen with what appeared to be a jail cell on it, and in that jail cell was...Walter. The vision didn't stop their either. It continued on, I must have collapsed at it's intensity because the right side of my head was suddenly hurting. The last thing I saw in the final flash of the vision was a machine, somewhere underground glowing and when that part hit me I began to shake uncontrollably.

"Aubrey...Aubrey can you hear me?" I heard Tommy yelling, while he dabbed a towel on the cut on my forehead. "Aubrey wake up!"

"Perhaps we should call an ambulance Tommy?" Malcolm said as he to leaned over my body as I remained on the cool tile floor.

"No...I'm okay." I croaked.

"Aubrey, you should really see a doctor." Malcolm said before reaching to help Tommy pick me up. Luckily, when his hand touched my arm no visions came over me, but I was uneasy being around him right now.

"I'll be okay. It's just a side effect of some medication I am taking." I said as I moved to collect my purse and sweater. "Tommy I am so sorry, but can we reschedule breakfast?"

"Of course. Please go home take care of yourself." Tommy said with a smile. "Text me when you get back okay, I don't want to see your car lying in a ditch when I drive back into town later."

"I will. So great to see you Mr. Merlyn. Sorry I couldn't stay." I said as I headed for the door.

"It was great to see you as well Aubrey. You know you are welcome here anytime." He said giving me a cautious smile. I could tell he was uneasy about me leaving, but I wondered if he knew what had happened. As I walked to my car I shook the idea from my head. There was no way he could possibly know that I had some kind of vision about him. Once safely inside my car I pulled out my phone and texted Oliver to say I needed to talk to him. I told him I would be at Queen Consolidated in 20 minutes and to have Felicity on hand.

True to my word I arrived at Queen Consolidated within 20 minutes, and quickly made my way through the lobby to the elevators. Once I reached the top floor I smiled at the floor receptionist and then practically sprinted over to Oliver's office. When I walked in I turned to close the door behind me and take a moment to catch my breath. Oliver seemed to sense my distress and stood from his desk making his way over to me.

"Hey I got your text. What is going on?" he asked as he ran a hand across my back.

"Merlyn." I said before looking up at Oliver's face. "It was Malcolm Merlyn that took Walter."

"What?" he asked me shocked.

"I don't know the details, I just know he is involved. I had a vision...actually quite a few visions when he hugged me this morning." I said with a sigh. In that moment I decided to spare Oliver the details of his mother's possible torrid affair with Merlyn. I would have to confront her about that one another day. Today I was more worried about Walter and how Merlyn was connected to all of it. "I saw Merlyn, looking at what must have been security footage of wherever Walter is being held. I also saw him threatening your Mother and then this machine underground that was glowing and I think shaking. I started convulsing as the machine began to do whatever it was made to do."

"Did you say anything to Tommy or Malcolm?" Oliver asked.

"NO! I just had visions of the man doing what I suspect are not good things why on earth would I tell him anything?" I said looking at him angrily.

"Sorry, I just wanted to be sure that Malcolm didn't know anything." He said before pulling me into a hug and placing a kiss on the top of my head. " Malcolm is involved in all this...and so is my mom. I have to figure out what this is all about. If Malcolm threatened my mom and took Walter it has to be for something."

"Maybe he threatened your mom because she wasn't going to go along with what he is planning." I said trying to offer some solution to the mystery around Moira's involvement.

"Maybe." Oliver said sadly. "How am I supposed to even broach this subject with her."

"Maybe you shouldn't be the one talking to her." Felicity said sadly. We were in Oliver's office at Queen Consolidated so we couldn't exactly point at the Hood suit to drive home her point, but I think Oliver knew exactly what she was suggesting.

"Felicity may have a point." I said looking up at him. "Maybe the hood can get more answers out of her than she would willingly give to her son."

"You both may be right, but I don't like the idea of interrogating or threatening my own mother. I don't even like that I have to think of this as an option." Oliver said as he pulled away from me and began to pace his office.

"Unfortunately, this may be the only way we get Walter back Oliver. You have to do this, but I understand why you don't want to." I said sadly as I walked over to him and placed a hand on his cheek and pulling him down for a kiss. "We all want to see the best in our parents...even when they turn out to not deserve it at all."

"I'll do it tonight. Felicity can you hack into my mother's calendar and let me know where she will be tonight." Oliver said before pulling me into a tighter embrace. He sighed into my hair and I had no words to help make him feel better. I just squeezed him a bit tighter and stood there with him. We would get this all sorted out and we would finally bring Walter home.


	20. Hiatus

Hi Everyone,

So sorry for the lack of posting lately! I have just started a new permanent job as my previous Mat-Leave contract was ended early. So I have just been crazy busy learning the new job, and of course chasing after a toddler. I promise I will pick up this story again, but for now I am putting this one on Hiatus. Thank you for all your support and feedback I really do love hearing it all! You guys are amazing!

-E


	21. Chapter 18

Oliver POV

I hated this, the idea that my mother was somehow involved in Walter's disappearance. I couldn't wrap my head around it, she seemed to love Walter and yet she should aid in his kidnapping, or even murder. I tried my best to remain hopeful of her innocence, but all evidence appeared to be pointing to guilty. So I took a deep breath and entered my mother's office at QC and began my hood charade.

"Moira Queen, you have failed this city!" I yelled as I shot an arrow above her head clearly missing. "Where is Walter Steele?!"

"I don't know where he is!" She replied as tears began to fall. I was making my mother cry and it was killing me. "Please I have children. A son and a daughter, they already lost their father, they cannot lose me too."

"Who took Walter Steele?" I yelled, trying once again to get some kind of answer from her.

"Please he'll hurt my family. I want my husband back, but the man who took him will hurt my children." She cried. "Please I can't…"

She didn't finish her statement. Instead she pointed a hand gun and shot at me. The bullet grazed my shoulder. My own mother had shot me. I ad driven my own mother to shoot me. And in that moment everything hit me. The realization that my mother was definitely involved in Walter's disappearance, and someone was forcing her hand...Merlyn. Aubrey's premonition must be right, Malcolm must have had Walter taken as further leverage against my mother. I quickly gave my head a shake trying to bring myself out of my own head. She will have pressed the silent alarm and security would no doubt be on their way. I managed to escape the offices and made my way down to the parking garage. I happened to notice Felicity's car was still there so I decided to hop in the back and hoped she would be heading home before I bled out in the trunk. About 10 minutes later I heard the door open and let out a sigh of relief.

"Don't scream Felicity." I said in a hushed tone. I was getting a bit weaker due to blood loss, but at least I knew that I would not die in the back of her car.

"Jesus...Oliver what the hell!" She scolded, but quickly noticed the blood seeping from my shoulder. "Oh my god. You need a doctor!"

"No take me to the club Felicity." I said sternly.

"Oliver you need a doctor, We are not equipped to handle this situation back at the lair." She said, her voice filled with concern.

"Felicity take me back to the lair. I have medical supplies there and John was a soldier he knows basic first aid." I said, the tone of my voice stressing the importance of not being taken to a hospital.

"Fine! But you bleed out and die, know that Aubrey will probably kill me and then bring you back to kill you herself." She said with a sarcastic tone.

I let out a quiet laugh and a soft smile spread across my face. She was right Aubrey would kill me for not going to see a doctor. I thought about telling Felicity not to tell her, but I knew that was too bold a request. They were good friends and Aubrey would be beyond mad if Felicity kept this from her. We pulled up to verdant and Felicity carefully helped me out of the car and down the stairs as best as she could with her small frame.

"John! Help!" She yelled as we reached the last step. That was the last thing I heard before I passed out.

Aubrey POV

I had a real sense of panic rushing through me as I made my way over to Verdant. Felicity's text was short and provided very little detail, so I knew it had to be something important. She also was not answering my calls now. I was assuming that my coming down would have something to do with Oliver's or the hood's confrontation with Moira. I hoped that he got the answers that he needed, and I really prayed that Moira had nothing to do with Walter's disappearance. I looked around before entering the secret side entrance of the club, punching in the code that felicity have given me. When I opened the door I could hear voices, and they sounded panicked, which did nothing to ease my nerves. Thankfully I was not wearing heels right now so I ran down the stairs and felt the air leave my lungs at the sight before me. Oliver laid out on the table bleeding, with diggle stitching him up.

"What the hell happened?" I said as I finally made my presence known.

"Moira shot him" Felicity said sadly.

"She what? Since when does she even have a gun?" I asked as I stepped closer to the table taking in his injuries.

"It's really not that bad Aubrey." John said as he continued his work. "The bleeding has stopped, I treated the wound to prevent infection and now I am just stitching him up."

"So why is he unconscious?" I asked placing a hand on his wrist checking for a pulse. I knew he wasn't dead, but for my own piece of mind I had to check.

"He passed out from the blood loss. Felicity found him in the back of her car and he insisted she bring him here instead of a hospital." Dig said as he placed the gauze bandages on the freshly stitched wound.

"Well I'll be giving him a piece of my mind on that matter for sure." I said pissed off. How could he be so careless. Running all the worst case scenario's in my mind was not helping my anger at this man. "Why don't you guys head home. Leave me any of the supplies I might need and I will stay with him. You can take my car Felicity, Oliver will be getting yours cleaned before he returns it."

"Are you sure? We don't mind staying Bri." John said with a sigh.

"You guys look beat. Go home get some rest and we can all regroup tomorrow night to find out what Oliver learned on tonight's excursion." I said with a smile. I hugged them both grateful for helping Oliver and always having his back. "Thank you both for everything you did tonight, and everything you do to have his back."

"Try not to kill each other when he wakes up." John said with a laugh.

"I make no promises you know that John." I said in return.

They headed out the door and I pulled up a chair to sit next to the cot that we had moved Oliver to before the gang all left the lair. I held his hand in mine, and just stared at the heart monitor Felicity had hooked him up to. Each beep brought me relief, because it meant he was still alive. This man was going to be the death of me, and that death would come from worrying. Everytime he goes out on patrol or on a mission I am terrified he won't come back. In a moment like this I really applaud women whose husbands work in the military, I feel their pain, but at least I get to see Oliver almost every day. I settled myself back in the chair and did my best to get some sleep. I could yell at Oliver for getting shot tomorrow. Oliver must have woken up while I was sleeping, and somehow managed to move my ass from the chair to the cot, because when I woke up I felt the softness of a pillow underneath my head and a blanket wrapped around my body. I blinked open and looked around to find Oliver sitting over at Felicity's computer typing away.

"You better not have moved her chair around. You know how mad she gets about that." I said as I pulled myself up from the cot. "What are you doing?"

I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around his strong shoulders. Snooping I placed a kiss on the his right shoulder and then began snooping at what he was typing. There was information on Malcolm Merlyn, Merlyn Global and Queen Consolidated all across the screen. I let out a soft sigh as I felt him lean back into my embrace, and placed a hand over one of mine. I kissed his shoulder again softly before moving myself over to the seat next to him. He looked at me sadly before responding.

"Research." Was all he said.

"I take it from that look on your face and the gunshot wound that the confrontation with your mother did not go well." I said with a raised eyebrow.

"You going to yell at me now or save that for later?" He said with a smirk.

"I want to yell at you. God I want to scream and hit you, for getting shot. You put yourself into these deadly positions and one day I am going to get the call that I've lost you for good this time." I said as tears came to my eyes. "But I am trying to support you. I know this is all important to you, to right your father's wrongs. I just don't want to see it cost you your entire life."

"I'm sorry I scared you." He said as he moved to face me.

"Scared? More like terrified!" I said, moving from my chair to his lap and placing my hands on either side of his face. I leaned forward and kissed him passionately to drive home how much I need him here. "I can't lose you again Oliver. I won't survive it."

"I'm not going anywhere Aubrey. I will fight tooth and nail to always come back to you." He said before claiming my lips with his own. The kiss grew even more heated, and before I knew it we were back on the cot too wrapped up in each other to worry about what transpired tonight.

As we were pulling our clothes back on I finally decided it was time to find out what had actually transpired between him and his mother. The arrow clearly got information from Moira, and it was not the kind of information he wanted. I couldn't be in the dark anymore, I had to know what happened.

"So are we going to talk about what your mother said tonight? I mean I got that it was bad news, but what exactly did she say?" I said as I pulled on my shirt and followed him over to the computers.

"Someone is blackmailing her." He said sadly. "I didn't want to believe that she was actually involved in this Bri. My own mother was involved in the kidnapping of her husband."

"Oliver, your mother isn't perfect. We both know that. None of our parents are or were perfect." I said as I stood before him, my hand on his shoulder. "But at the end of the day your mother will do anything she possibly can to protect you and Thea. You know I'm right."

"I know Aubrey. I just...what kind of mess has she gotten herself involved in. What could be such a threat to Thea and I that she would stoop to hurting Walter?" Oliver said sadly.

"Well that is what we are going to find out, and when we do we will find Walter and bring him home." I said before kissing him softly.

"I love you Aubrey. Thank you for coming along for this crazy ride." Oliver said with a sad smile.

"How about I ask your mom for girls lunch or something? I can free up my schedule and see what kind of information I can get out of her." I said with a smile. "Now you need to get some rest. Let's go home."

"That sounds like that best idea you've had all night." Oliver said before taking my hand in his. We left Verdant and headed back to the manor to get some sleep. Team Hood had some serious investigating to do on Moira, and I hoped that blackmail was the extent of what she had gotten herself involved in, but my gut told me it was only going to get worse.


	22. Authors Note: Updating soon Sorry!

Hey ladies and gents! So sorry for the delays in updating. I am not off for 6 weeks recovering from gastric bypass surgery so I am hoping to get a few chapters written and an update by the end of the week! Thank you for your continued support and all the comments I have received. I read every single one and I appreciate your advice, critiques and praise. I love writing so knowing people are enjoying what I am putting out there is an amazing feeling!

Thank you again for your continued patience! -E 


	23. Chapter 19

Aubrey POV

As promised I cleared up my schedule so that Moira and I could grab lunch. She had insisted we just stay at the Manor and have lunch in the gardens. I happily accepted because I loved those gardens. I had spent many years playing and reading in them as a child. It was Thursday around noon when I arrived back at the Manor. I decided clearing my afternoon would be the easiest way to make time for the kind of discussion I had to have with Moira.

"Aubrey, welcome home dear. Rasia has lunch all set up up for us." I heard Moira say as I entered the house.

"Perfect! I am famished." I replied as I followed her out to the garden. "Hi Rasia, everything smells delicious."

"Thank you Miss Aubrey, so sweet of you as always." Rasia replied as she made her way back into the house.

"Now Aubrey how are things at work? I know QC is the competition, but I ask as a mother not a business woman." She said with a soft smile as we settled in.

"Things are going really well. We had an excellent first quarter and I see lots of promising new ideas ahead of us, especially with our partnering with QC on so many innovative medical and scientifically advanced projects." I said as I dug into my salad. "How about you Moira? I mean everything has just been so crazy since Ollie got back...how are you doing?"

"It's been tough. Walter being gone, I just...I'm scared all the time Aubrey and I just got my son back. I feel like I don't get any other miracles." Moira said sadly. Before we could even get through the salad course Moira got a call she just had to take. That was when another vision hit me like a tidal wave. It was an image of Moira and Malcolm in a limousine. Malcolm looked so stern and serious, Moira looked afraid. I couldn't get anything they were saying but then I saw another image. It was Malcolm standing in some sort of cell, and laying in the corner was Walter.

The vision ended with enough time for me to regroup before Moira got back from taking her call. She made some excuse as to why she had to leave, some emergency at QC she stated. She told me to stay and enjoy the lunch and we would reschedule. I smiled softly as she placed a kiss upon my head before running out to the car waiting in the driveway for her. It killed me to really realize that this woman who had been so much like a mother to me, was involved in the disappearance of her husband. Someone she claimed to love.

I immediately picked up the phone and called Oliver. I knew he would be at the arrow cave while his mother and I had our lunch. I suppose I could have driven over there, but I was still shaky from my vision. I didn't think it would be the smartest idea. I sat back down at the table fiddling with my plate, no longer feeling like I had an appetite. It had to have been about 15-20 minutes since I had called Oliver when I heard the front door open.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Oliver asked as he rushed out to where I sat in the gardens.

"Malcolm and your mother are involved. I think he is blackmailing her." I said with a sigh as he pulled me into a hug. "I could not get much detail from her, but I had a vision and they were both in it. Then she got a call and made an excuse to leave."

"I cannot believe this...my mother. She loves Walter. She already lost one husband how could she possibly go along with kidnapping her husband." Oliver said as he sat where Moira had been sitting not even a half hour ago.

"Maybe there is something bigger at play here Ollie." I said coming to sit on his lap. "You're mother is not an evil woman. She is a woman who will do anything to protect her family and this must be something to that effect. There has to be another explanation."

" I really hope you right Bri, but I cannot think of a single one that makes any sense." Oliver said as he wrapped his arms around my waist. "Are you okay? You sounded so shaken on the phone."

"I was, those visions or whatever you call them seem to take a lot out of me." I say with a soft smile. "But I am better now. Thank you for rushing over here."

"Not like I was up to much, I was at QC actually doing more training. Mom is after all grooming me to take over the company before the year is out." Oliver said with a smile. "So what did you have planned for the rest of your day?"

"Honest after that vision, I think I am ready to just pass out. Unless you can think of something better we could do with all this new found free time we both have." I say with a smirk. Before he can respond I stood up and made my way towards the hallway. Peaking my head back into the room, with my attempt at a seduction scheme. "Well are you coming or what?"


	24. Chapter 20

Aubrey POV

Things between Oliver and his mother had been so tense. You could literally cut the tension with a knife. Thea and I were doing our best to avoid being in the same room alone with them, but for a big house it was proving to be quite difficult. Presently, I was out with Thea and we were shopping. She had insisted that we have a girls day, because since Oliver had been back he has been monopolizing my time, well him and work. So currently we were hopping from store to store at the mall just enjoying a relaxing shopping excursion before we hit the spa. It seemed like a fitting time because Thea's big birthday bash was coming up so we could both pick up cute outfits.

"So you an Ollie eh?" Thea said finally breaking the silence.

"Yeah, it's still all new and exciting." I said with a blush.

"Well, as far as I am concerned it's about damned time." Thea said with a laugh. "Either way you've always been a sister to me Bri."

"Thanks Thea." I said with a shy smile. "Okay so what look are we going for? You are the birthday girl after all."

"I'm going for show stopper for sure." Thea said with a smirk. "This is perfect."

She pulled out a silver number that was fairly short. I probably wouldn't be caught dead in it, but tini-tiny Thea could pull just about anything off. As I was off in my own world searching through racks of tini-tiny dresses I heard Thea exclaim she had found the perfect one.

"I found it!" she yelled. "It's so perfect."

"What about the silver one?" I asked confused.

"No it's perfect for you." She said holding up a satin green number. I had to admit it was a beautiful dress, short, but very beautiful. I couldn't help the slight eye roll I gave her at the colour choice. It was even funnier because Thea had no idea about what her brother did at night for the city.

"Thea I don't think I can pull that off..all the burgers your brother has been feeding me are starting to rear their ugly head on my waist." I said with a laugh.

"Oh please you are smoking and you'll look even more smoking in this dress. Try it on!" Thea said before slapping me playfully. "Go seriously we are not leaving until you do it."

"Fine." I said as I grabbed the dress and headed to the dressing room. I slipped into the dress with no issues, and I didn't even bother to look at myself in the mirror. I wasn't sure I wanted the dress, but Thea's face as I exited the dressing room gave me the impression that I probably should.

"Woah!" Thea said as her jaw hit the floor. "You have to get that dress Bri...Oliver is going to die when he sees you in that."

"Really? That good?" I asked as I began to turn to look at my reflection in the mirror. "Woah is right...where did I get these legs, I was seriously feeling like a bloated big belly blob the last couple days, but damn."

"I told you it was perfect." Thea said as she came up behind me. "You look amazing and you are so wearing that to my party."

"Okay fine you win on this one." I said with a laugh. " Let's get these and hit the spa."

"The hot stone massage and mud bath are calling my name." Thea said dramatically.

"Mine too." I said with a smile. It had been ages since I had relaxed and had a girls day at the spa.

After our amazing afternoon we headed back to the house where party preparations were well underway. This was a huge 18th birthday bash, and one only a Queen could throw. Moira had pulled out all the stops. We both went off to get ready and I headed to the room Oliver and I now seemed to share. I still kept most of my things in my own room, but 98% of the time we stayed in Ollie's room.

"Hey, how was your day with Thea?" I heard Oliver ask from the bathroom.

"It was really great. We had a fun time shopping and the spa was very relaxing." I said as I threw my bags on the bed. Seconds later I heard the shower turn on and an evil smirk came across my face. I decided there was nothing I'd rather be doing than enjoying a shower with my man. I did my best to sneak up on him, but seeing as he was basically a ninja warrior he heard me.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Oliver said as he turned to see me standing naked in front of him.

"Having a shower...what does it look like?" I said with a smile.

"Oh really?" Oliver asked as he slowly took a few steps towards me. "Well who am I to stop you from getting cleaned up."

"Who said anything about getting clean Oliver?" I said as I closed the gap between us by stepping forward and wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

"Hmm I like the way you think miss Martin." He said before capturing my lips in a heated kiss. Seconds later he was lifting me up, my legs naturally wrapping around his torso. As we continued to make out, he pulled us into the water stream, and then pressed my back against the wall.

"Please Ollie." I begged as he continued to kiss every inch of my skin. He knew what I wanted, but was stalling.

"Yes Aubrey?" Oliver said in a taunting tone. He didn't continue his torture for much longer. He knew what I wanted, what I needed and he was happy to give it to me. We excited the shower a good 20 minutes later, both panting and quite possibly in need of another shower. Oliver went into the closet and I sat down at the vanity he had set up for me in here. I applied a light, yet acceptably "glamours" layer of makeup as Thea had suggested once I purchased the dress. I let my hair dry a bit more before I threw a couple of hot curlers in. Oliver re-emerged fully dressed in an amazing grey suit. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from jumping him right here and now. My need for him felt entirely insatiable and I hoped we were always like this.

"Well don't you look handsome as ever." I said as I walked up and kissed him. Instinctively his hands fell to my lingerie clad ass. "I feel like I am going to be fighting off a bunch of teenager girls tonight."

"I've only got eyes for you Bri. Besides if you don't cover up this instant we will not be leaving this room at all tonight." He said as his kisses moved along my neck, to my collarbone and then my shoulder.

"Easy there tiger, plenty of time for that later." I said before placing my lips on his. "We can resist each other for a couple hours. It's your sister's birthday party, and while she may not exactly be happy with you right now, she loves you and is so happy you are home."

"Really? Because it feels like I am absolutely her least favourite person on the planet." Oliver said with a laugh.

"Just give her time. Sadly your mother has let her get away with a lot, and you trying to help her learn from your mistakes really gets in the way of that freedom." I said as I walked over to where he now stood looking out the window. I wrapped my arms around him and laid my head against his back. "She will come around, just give her time."

"You're really great with her you know that." Oliver said as he now turned to face me. "I am so glad my family had you with them throughout all this mess. And I am also glad you had them."

"Well I am glad that I have you here, alive and well." I said with a smile. "Now if you could just stay that way I would really appreciate it." I added with a giggle.

"Hey when you shoot arrows at people they tend to want to return the pain." Oliver said with a smile. "Okay you finish getting ready I am going to go down and play nice with my mother."

"You do that." I said with a laugh, knowing how hard it has been on him trying to play nice with her these days. Once he left the room I sat down to finish doing my hair. Keeping things simple I just pinned back the few curls I had from the hot rollers. I grabbed a pair of black strappy heels and then slipped into my dress. I hated to admit it, but Thea was right. This dress was amazing. Fitted in all the right places, I noted as I glanced at my reflection in the mirror one more time before descending the stairs.

The party was in full swing, and all the kids seemed to be having a blast. I noticed Oliver, his mother and newly returned home Walter all talking in the corner drinks in hand. I smiled softly at him proud that he was making an effort. My eyes continued to scan the room searching for the birthday girl and I let out an annoyed sigh when my eyes landed on her talking to a guy I recognized as her dealer. Tommy and I had caught her trying to get drugs from this guy on many different occasions. She was such a bright girl, and all because of her grief she is going to through her life away. I headed down the remaining stairs and straight towards them. I plastered on a fake smile made my presence known.

"Thea, there you are. Do you mind if I borrow the birthday girl for a minute." I said as I grabbed her arm and led her into the study.

"Aubrey, what the hell? That was so rude!" Thea exclaimed.

"No what the HELL are you thinking! We talked about this! You promised Tommy and I that you were done with the drugs. We didn't go to your mom then, but I will now." I yelled.

"You are not my mother. Hell you are not even my sister, you are just the woman sleeping with my brother. So back the hell off!" Thea said as she walked out of the room. Once she had left the room I was hit with a sudden shiver and a vision came into my mind. The vision was of Thea, she was driving her new car and then everything's a blur of flashing lights and tree branches. I hear the sound of tires screeching and then the vision subsides. Once the images clear, I am overwhelmed by exhaustion. Like all the visions I have had to date, this one was draining. Fortunately for me this time I did not collapse. I saw the decanter of scotch and several glasses sitting on the bar in the corner of the room. Needing to take edge off I pour myself a glass, in that moment Oliver enters the room with a concerned look on his face.

"Hey Thea just stormed out of here sassed mom and then headed up to her room. What happened?" he asked me.

"Thea was trying to buy drugs. It was a guy I recognized. Tommy and I have caught her several times buying from this guy and she promised she was done, so we didn't go to your mom. Clearly that was the wrong move, because she has not stopped at all." I said with a frustrated sigh. "Wait did you say she didn't take off in her car did she?"

"No, but if she is that mad it wouldn't surprise me." Oliver said with a sigh. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah I just had this vision of Thea wrecking her car, I wish I could figure out how to control these things. Each time I have them it leaves me feeling like I have been hit by a bus."

"Well take it easy okay." He said as he helped me over to the couch. Just then we both heard his phone buzz. He checked it and from the expression on his face I could see that it was a message from Felicity.

"Felicity?" I said in a questioning tone.

"Yeah, she has a lead on vertigo dealer we have been tracking. Hopefully it can lead us to the count and we can get him put away." Oliver said as he sighed. I could tell he was battling with himself over whether or not to go.

"Go. we'll be fine here. I will keep an eye on your sister." I said before kissing him softly and standing up. "See all better. Just needed a stiff drink to take the edge off."

"Okay but you call me if anything comes up here." He said before kissing my head and heading out the door. I re-emerged from the study and moved to go over and talk with Moira. We chatted for a bit, before she left Walter and I to discuss some business. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Thea walking with one of her friends. The friend held up a baggie of pills, and Thea took them without hesitation. Moira then called for us to alll head outside for Thea's big birthday present reveal. I made quick work to follow her outside and once the crowd began to disappear I noticed Thea toss back some pills before jumping into the car. Before she could speed away I jumped into the passenger seat. This girl needed to get it together or she was going to get herself killed. I only hoped that tonight was not that night.


	25. Chapter 21

"Aubrey! What the hell are you doing?" Thea yelled as I had jumped into the passengers seat of the car.

"Trying to make sure someone who is basically my little sister doesn't do anything stupid or reckless." I said with a sigh as I buckled my seat belt.

"I'm just taking my new wheels out for a spin. It's really no big deal." Thea said as she turned to look at me. Something about her expression made me uneasy. She was on something, she had to be. Her eyes were glassy and her motions were just too chill even for Thea.

"What are you on Thea?" I asked, my concern only continued to grow as she swerved in and out of the lane. "Come on Thea pull over and I will drive us back to the house."

As I said that I made the mistake of removing my seat belt. I had hoped she would see reason and stop the car, but instead of slowing down she sped up and before she realized what she had done we were veering off the road to avoid another vehicle and slamming into a tree in the woods just off the road. My world went black at the moment of impact. When I came to we were still in the woods, the car was smoking and someone was yelling to us. I noticed I was no longer in the vehicle but laying several feet away. I must have been thrown as we hit the tree, however for some reason I could still stand up and move as normal. I had some spots of blood on me, but whatever cuts had been there were gone. I was going to freak out, but then I remembered Thea. I ran over to the car where I saw he knocked out laying against the deployed airbag. I yelled for the man on the road to call an ambulance and then checked Thea for a pulse. I let out a breath I didn't even realize I was holding when I felt the faint thumping of her heartbeat. Thank god, she was alive. I noted a sizable cut on her forehead where her face must have collided with the wheel before the airbag was released. Other than that she probably had some bruising, and hopefully that was the extent of her injuries. I didn't move her for fear of a more serious spinal injury that I couldn't see. A few moments after I had finished my exam of her, I heard the familiar sirens of the ambulance and sighed in relief that they were here to help her.

As one medic was checking Thea over the other was checking me over. All I could do was continue to tell them that I was fine, and that the blood wasn't mine. They were completely confused as to how I had been injured, and to be honest so was I. I would have to remember to ask Felicity to draw up some blood work for me so that we could understand just how I survived being thrown from a vehicle going that fast. As they began to load Thea onto a stretcher I decided I better call Moira.

"We need to have the hospital notify next of kin." One medic said to the other.

"NO! I will call her mother. I live in their home, it'll be better if she hears it from me." I said as I began dialing the number.

"Alright miss." They replied as they moved towards the ambulance that was parked up the hill on the road.

"Moira." I said as I heard the woman's voice on the other line. "It's Aubrey. Thea...she's..she's been in an accident. They are taking her to the hospital now. I was in the car with her and I will ride along with them."

"My baby. Okay thank you honey. Please stay with her until I get there." Moira said, trying not to panic too much. Given this is not the first call she has received about something happening to one of her children, it was completely understandable. "Bri, do you know where Oliver is?"

"I'll call him now." I said softly. "Moira everything is going to be okay."

"Of course honey. Everything is going to be fine." She replied. I could tell she was trying her best to believe those words, but when it comes to Moira Queen and her children, nothing could hurt her more than something happening to either one of them. We hung up the phone and I followed the medic into the ambulance. The ride was bumpy and I sat wrapped in a blanket, while holding onto Thea's hand the entire time. She hadn't come to yet, and the guy sitting back here with me writing up her chart seemed to be concerned about that. He began asking me all kinds of questions about her and I did my best to answer them. We pulled up to the hospital and a nurse helped me down and quickly ushered me out of the way. I told her I needed to make a phone call and headed back outside ignoring her protest. I dialed his number and he answered on the first ring.

"Bri...I am just heading back…."He began but I quickly interrupted him.

"Ollie, it's...we're not at the house. Thea and I are at the hospital and your mother is on her way here." I said as the shock of what happened tonight finally hit me. Tears began to fall and I as breaking down. I may have been uninjured physically, but I was still really shaken.

"I'm on my way." was all he said before he hung up the phone. Seeing as he had most likely been at the Arrow cave it only took him a few minutes to arrive at the hospital. Thea was being examined and stitched up and I had just been released to go to the waiting room. I had literally just walked into the busy, brightly lit room when Oliver walked in demanding to know where we were.

"Ollie." I said just barely loud enough for him to hear me.

"Aubrey, thank god." He said rushing over to me pulling me into a tight hug, and then pulling back to place a hand on either side of my face searching for injuries. "Are you okay? What happened? Where are you hurt?"

"I'm okay. Somehow completely uninjured." I said sadly. "Thea jumped in her knew car, and because of that vision I had I just couldn't let her go alone. She was on something Ollie and she got behind the wheel."

"On what exactly?" Oliver asked confused.

"Vertigo I think. I saw her talking to that dealer, and then a friend of hers handed her a baggy of pills. They looked like the vertigo you found at the house of the dealer you took down the other night." I said in a rush. "I thought I had reasoned with her and she was going to stop the car so I took off my seatbelt, but she didn't. She sped up and lost control. We ended up in the trees and I was thrown from the car."

"How are they releasing you right now?" Oliver asked even more concerned than before.

"My baby! Where is my baby?Where is Thea?" Moira yelled as she came bursting through the ER doors.

"She is just being taking up to a room now Mrs. Queen. We'll show you to her." A nurse said before taking us all up to the 6th floor. We all rushed into the room and Oliver sat me down in a chair in the corner, worried I would have some underlying injury from the crash that the doctors missed. Thea was beginning to finally come to and it filled me with so much relief.

"Oh thank god. Honey do you know where you are?" Moira asked Thea as she brushed some hair off her face.

"Looks like a hospital...oh god Aubrey. Is she okay?" Thea said as she began to try and sit up frantically. Moira tried to get her to relax, but it didn't seem to be working. I was gathering that from the corner of the room she couldn't see me so I stood and made myself known.

"I'm okay Thea. I was more worried about you." I said with a soft smile. Oliver came to stand next to me and took my hand in his.

"Oh thank god. I'm so sorry Aubrey. I don't know how.." She began, but I knew she didn't want her mom to know she was on drugs so I interrupted her before she said anything else.

"It's okay. We're alive. Must have hydroplaned or something as we rounded the corner. Nobody else was hurt, and we'll be just fine. That's all that matters." I said before excusing myself from the room.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay?" Oliver asked as he followed me out of the room.

"I'm fine. You should go back in with your mom and sister." I said faking a smile and trying to keep the tears from falling.

"Hey, no right now the woman I love was just in a pretty serious car accident, and I want to make sure she's okay." He said before kissing me softly. "Talk to me Aubrey, what's going on?"

"I don't know Oliver, and it's scaring the shit out of me." I said as I let it all go. "I was thrown from the car tonight. I could have and probably should have died with how fast Thea was going. Yet somehow I am standing here talking to you without a scratch on me."

"We got lucky Aubrey." Oliver said with a sigh. I knew he didn't know what to say, but only an idiot would believe that statement.

"Ollie, lucky is winning the lottery, this was not luck. Something is going on with me and it's really starting to freak me out." I said with a sigh as I pulled him into a more private room so we didn't have to whisper. "The visions, which have all pretty much been spot on, and now this. Something is wrong."

"We'll figure it out. We'll find someone who can help explain what is going on with you." Oliver said before kissing me a bit more passionately this time. "All I know is once again I could have lost you tonight, but I didn't. So for that I am extremely thankful. I love you Bri. I promise we will figure this all out."

"I love you to Oliver." I said as he pulled me into his arms. I really hoped he was right, that we would find some answers to whatever this was. I don't know how much longer I can go on not knowing. We stood there for a few minutes before making our way back to Thea's room. When we returned Walter was there with Moira and both were fawning all over Thea, worried at how close they had come to losing her tonight.


	26. Authors Note: Apologies & Brief Hiatus

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for your continued support with my story. I am truly so touched and happy that people are enjoying my writing and my take on Oliver's journey. I am so sorry for the inconsistent updates I have been dealing with some issues personally and professionally going through a major transition so I just have not found the time to write. I assure you I will be continuing this and all my stories. I am not lacking in ideas, but yours are always listened to and taken into consideration. I am just lacking in bandwidth at this point in my life. I will get back into my writing as soon as I can. I hope you continue to like where I do decide to take this story and that you continue to read and review any future updates when I am able to make them.

I am hoping with the upcoming holidays and a bit of a break from work, that I can sit down and get to work on writing a bunch of chapters in advance.

Thank you again for all your support and feedback, it really does mean the world to me.

-E


	27. Sorrystay tuned!

First off I just want to say thank you! Thank you to everyone who has been reading my work. It truly means the absolute world to me. My stories or adaptations of Arrow come to me and I just frantically type them all out, then the ideas grow stale and that seemed to be what happened to me.

Recently I have been laid off from the contract I had been working. SOOOOO that being said, I plan to rededicate some time to writing and updating all my current works. I am going to actually rewatch Arrow I think, so that I can reignite the inspiration.

Again thank you for your continued support, encouragement and suggestions. Please know I read them all. Stay tuned for more from my Arrow-verse!

-E


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